Jews, Food, and Spain: The Oldest Medieval Spanish Cookbook and the Sephardic Culinary Heritage

"Jews, Food, and Spain is a fascinating study in which the author, Héeacute;lèegrave;ne Jawhara Piñntilde;er, asserts that food is an important key to unraveling the complexities of the Jewish cultural heritage, especially in early Medieval Spain. Using the 13th century Arabic language cookbook Kītab Tabīkh as guide, she explores what can be discerned from its contents regarding Jewish culture and its evolution in the multicultural setting of Al-Andalus. Cuisine, as Jawhara Piñer explains, is so much more than just recipes... [The book] would be a valuable addition to an academic Jewish history and culture collection as well one focused on food studies."

- C. and Anne-Marie Belinfante, AJL News & Reviews

"Tell me what you eat, and I will tell you who you are. This should be the motto of any book that examines the medieval food culture of Iberia. In her new book entitled Jews, Food, and Spain, Hélène Jawhara Piñer seeks to demonstrate both the process through which the Jewish cuisine of the Iberian Middle Ages acted as a cultural identifier, and how this culinary culture has been maintained in modern Sephardic communities. ... This book is a welcome addition to the growing discussion of the culinary multiculturalism that existed in the Iberian Middle Ages. ... there is no doubt that this book is an important examination of the influence of Jewish culinary culture on medieval Iberia and on the diasporic culinary journey of Iberian Jews."

-- Martha Daas, Speculum

"Hélène Jawhara Piñer's new book, Jews, Food, and Spain, is a wonder. Her research is deep and comprehensive, her presentation detailed and wise, and her 'gift' to the reader generous. Her work answers every question about the Sephardic culinary heritage you have ever had, and many questions you didn't even know how to ask. This is a book anyone interested in food, its history, and its meanings, will want to read."

- Dr. David Kraemer, Jewish Theological Seminary Librarian and Professor of Talmud and Rabbinics. Author of Jewish Eating and Identity Through the Ages

"In Jews, Food, and Spain, Hélène Jawhara Piñer invites us into the medieval kitchens of Muslim Spain, where she uncovers compelling evidence of several unknown, distinctively Jewish culinary practices that over the centuries have been integrated into Spanish cuisine. Her meticulous research into the foodways of Spain's Sephardim will be eye-opening to all those with an interest in the food, history, and culture of the region."

- Darra Goldstein, Food historian and founding editor of the journal Gastronomica

"In this fascinating study, which will appeal to readers (and cooks!) interested in the intersecting histories of food, Sephardic Jewish culture, and the Mediterranean world of Iberia and northern Africa, Hélène Jawhara Piñer studies Kitab al-tabikh, a cookbook of uncertain authorship written in Arabic around the year 1200 which also includes dietary advice about which foods to eat to address individuals' variable health needs. Remarkably, this volume includes several recipes which its author describes as explicitly Jewish, such as "Jewish Partridge" and "A Jewish Dish of Eggplants Stuffed with Meat." Piñer uses this volume and these recipes as her point of departure to investigate far-reaching questions: What is Jewish cuisine, what is Sephardic culture, and how can we use the history of food to trace Jewish experiences in the Iberian Peninsula and later, following Jewish and Muslim expulsions from Spain? Piñer makes a case for the role of ingredients, methods, cultural associations, and even utensils or cooking p