Maya Elmakayes Says Hollywood Glamour Is Overrated, and Her Focus Is Now at Home
In a new episode of Walla Food’s video podcast “Medabrim Ochel,” host Ron Yuchnanehov speaks with lifestyle figure Maya Elmakayes about fame, marriage, motherhood and food. The conversation moves from her public image, built through modeling, business, baking and hosting, to the private life behind the polished posts, including her relationship with American filmmaker and actor Dani Ai.
Elmakayes addresses the criticism around their age gap and says she does not let it affect her. “Age does not reflect anything,” she says, adding that most negative reactions come from people speaking from their own pain or frustration. She describes her husband as “the most talented and best person in the world” and says his strength is his kindness. She also says they kept their relationship private until they were engaged and felt secure enough to speak openly.
She says her ambition has always pushed her forward. “If I don’t try, I can lose a lot,” she says, explaining that hearing “no” is less painful than living with “what if.” The couple still owns a home in the United States, but after the war they decided their base should be in Israel for now, so their son can spend his early years there. She says neither she nor her husband is impressed by Hollywood glamour, and that social-media pressure to look perfect is exhausting everywhere, not only in Los Angeles.
Elmakayes says she cooks daily and is happiest in the kitchen, especially when hosting. She loves baking elaborate dishes, but says she no longer bakes as often because her husband is careful about food and her son should not eat too much sweets. Her ideal taste of home is Friday schnitzel in challah with matbucha and fried eggplant, and she says the best food she makes is her mother’s ptitim, which her family loves. Despite her international life, she insists that Israeli food is unbeatable, especially Tel Aviv’s culinary scene.
The episode also includes a surprise cooking challenge using cookie flour, honey, chocolate spread, coconut and lemon, which she turns into an imagined sweet yeast cake with a cinnamon-bun style filling and a glaze. In a playful “take it or run” segment, she says she would still eat a luxury dessert with a hair in the cream because she is from Beersheba, but would reject desserts that look like cockroaches or a dark concept restaurant where she is fed without knowing what she is eating.
