Carnegie Mellon University
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The Sephardi cookbook: a reflection of the culinary heritage of the Jews of Spain and the Diaspora

Friday, March 18, 2022
12:00pm ET
Hybrid event

Join the Department of Modern Languages, the Jack Buncher Endowed Chair in Jewish Studies in the Department of History, and the University of Pittsburgh Jewish Studies Program for a discussion featuring Hélène Jawhara Piñer, author of Sephardi Cooking the History.

The discussion will be moderated by Dr. Michal R. Friedman, Assistant Teaching Professor & Jack Buncher Professor of Jewish Studies in the Department of History, and Dr. Nevine Abraham, Principal Lecturer of Arabic Studies in the Department of Modern Languages. 

Copies of Sephardi Cooking the History will be available for sale at the in-person event.

About Hélène Jawhara Piñer

I'm Hélène Jawhara Piñer. I'm a PhD in History, Medieval History and the History of Food.

I have been awarded by the Broome & Allen Fellowship from the American Sephardi Federation in 2018, and by the David Gitlitz Emerging Scholar prize from the Society for Crypto-Judaic Studies in October 2021, both dedicated to recognizing academic accomplishments and service on behalf of the Sephardic community, as well as encouraging continued excellence in the field of Sephardi Studies and Crypto-Judaic Studies.

As a research associate of the Research Center CESR of Tours (UMR7323 of the CNRS) and of the CoReMa program research, my research interests are the medieval culinary history of Spain through inter and multiculturalism with a special focus on the Jewish culinary heritage written in Arabic.

My conference presentations include “Reflections on the Jewish heritage according to the Kitāb al-ṭabīẖ” (Association Diwan: Casa de Velázquez of Madrid, 2015); “Jewish cuisine in old cookbooks of the Iberian Peninsula”, “Jews and Muslims at the Table: Between coexistence and differentiation: state of affairs and reflections on the culinary practices of Jews and Muslims in the Iberian Peninsula and in Sicily from the 12th to the 15th century”, “Between similarities and differentiations: Eggplant among Jews and Muslims practices in the Iberian Peninsula from the 12th to the 15th centuries” (International Conferences at the IEHCA of Tours on Food&History and Food&Studies, 2016, 2017, 2018); and “The hidden Jewish culinary heritage of the Iberian Peninsula through a manuscript of the 13th century. Examples of the provenance of some recipes in Venezuelan and Colombian cuisine” (Society for Crypto-Judaic Studies, 2017).