By Julia Gergely
The first person in his family born in America, Edward Ilyasov spent his childhood in Queens, watching cooking shows and dreaming of traveling the world.
Edward Ilyasov, 29, with jars of his Uncle Edik’s, in Fresh Meadows, Queens. (Courtesy)
Even as a young boy, Ilyasov, now 29, felt he was destined to do something outside of the life path set for him by his parents and community. He knew he didn’t want to become a pharmacist, dentist, barber or jeweler — popular professions among the members of Queens’ Bukharian Jewish community, a tight-knit enclave of some 70,000 Russian-speaking Jews who hail from Central Asia.
Still, as a child of divorced immigrants, Ilyasov’s primary career goal was to make money. So, after completing his undergraduate degree at Queen’s College and master’s degree in financial engineering at Columbia, Ilyasov headed to Wall Street to work as a financial analyst.
After five years, Ilyasov felt unfulfilled.He decided to go from crunching numbers to crunching something a little more satisfying: pickles.
The idea first sparked three years ago, when Ilyasov’s aunt served him a crunchy homemade pickle with a surprising depth of flavor. His aunt was only able to provide vague instructions — “a little bit of this, a little bit of that.”
Ilyasov made it his mission to recreate the flavor. Within a week, he posted his version on Instagram, where it went viral in the Bukharian community. His friends who heard the crunch of the pickle in the video wanted to try it in person, he said. Ilyasov made small jars for them.
As word spread, he began selling his jars — eventually amassing a 600-order waitlist.
Uncle Edik’s Pickles, certified kosher by OK, was born. Though pickle-making began as a hobby it became a career. Ilyasov quit his finance job and became a full-time “picklepreneuer” in November, 2020.
Last October, Ilyasov moved into a storefront just across the street from where he grew up. Uncle Edik’s Pickles officially opened to walk-in customers in November.
He now employs five people in the store and hopes to expand once they reach a level of production that doesn’t sell out every week.
“It’s not a typical pickle — people are used to sour pickles or half-sour pickles,” Ilyasov told the New York Jewish Week. “These pickles are vinegar-based. They’re aged for about a week in a cold aging process.
“The pickles remain really crunchy,” Ilyasov said of his Bukharian method. “They’re still packed with flavor because of the delicate blend of spices.”
Why pickles? As Ilyasov explained, they are a traditional accompaniment of many Bukharian dishes.
They’re also a main component of zakuski, which are pickled hors d’oeuvres served with vodka.
“It presents itself as an extremely high-end pickle,” Ilyasov said of his creations, which include regular, spicy and habanero flavors. An Uncle Edik’s pickle is more than an add-on to a sandwich. These are intended to be delicacies for special meals and Shabbat tables, or as gifts to be given with a bottle of vodka.
As for the name, Edik is a diminutive of Edward, and “uncle” in Russian is an honorific similar to “mister.”
Though Ilyasov considers Uncle Edik’s Pickles the fruition of a lifelong dream, he is most proud that he has proved to himself that someone from the Bukharian community and a first-generation American can find a career that is fulfilling and successful.
“It’s a real entrepreneurship way of selling a product,” Manashe Khaimov, a professor of Bukharian Jewish history at Queens College, said. “The community has really celebrated and supported him.”
Ilyasov considers himself a minor celebrity in the Bukharian community. “I’m probably in the top two or three most well-known Bukharians of my generation,” he said.
Ilyasov is passionate about giving younger members of his community career advice. While he worked in finance, he hosted a panel called “Unconventional Bukharian Careers,” where Khaimov and other Bukharian Jews counseled high school and college students.
“Being able to show that it’s possible to make a living — a good one and a fun one — out of making something I’m passionate about, like pickles, means everything,” he added.
Fulfilling, maybe. But lucrative?
“I’m obviously not earning as much as I used to. Everything I invested was my own savings,” he said. “So it’s gonna take a while for me to catch up. But fulfilling? Yes. It’s been a blessing.”
Ilyasov is aware that he is honoring a Jewish tradition by opening a pickle business in the city. Some of his favorite interactions, he said, have been with older customers who have come in to reminisce about the hundred different types of pickles once found on the Lower East Side.
“To have a place in the heart of a very Jewish neighborhood, to bring back the ability to pick up a jar before Shabbat, is so important,” he said.
