About
Hélène Jawhara Piñer is a PhD in Medieval History and the History of Food.
She has been awarded by the Broome & Allen Fellowship from the American Sephardi Federation in 2018, dedicated to recognizing impressive academic accomplishments and service on behalf of the Sephardic community, as well as encouraging continued excellence in the field of Sephardi Studies. At the beginning of October 2021, the Society for Crypto-Judaic Studies also awarded her the David Gitlitz Emerging Scholar Prize for her accomplishment and engagement in Sephardic History research.As a research associate of the Research Center CESR (UMR7323 of the CNRS –France—) her 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.
Her 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). In 2018 she gave talks and lectures both at Bar Ilan University (Israel) about «El patrimonio culinario judío de la Península Ibérica a través de un manuscrito del siglo XIII. Ejemplos de la pervivencia de recetas en la cocina de los sefardíes de España y de Marruecos » (in collaboration with the Salti Institute and the CSIC), and for the International Congress organized by the CTHS in Paris, talking about « Évolutions et transmission du patrimoine culinaire de l'Espagne à travers les réceptaires anciens : le cas de la cuisine juive ». In July 2019, she attended the 1st Congress of Jewish Studies in Strasbourg (France) with a proposal entitled
« L’aubergine et les Juifs, à travers les livres de cuisine anciens de la Péninsule Ibérique écrits en arabe du XIIe au XVe siècle ». Her articles are and will be published in various international revues like Meldar of the University Pablo de Olavide (Sevilla, Spain), Ladinar of the University of Bar-Ilan (Tel-Aviv, Israel), eHumanista of the University of California (Santa Barbara, USA). Her recipes have appeared in the Sephardi World Weekly, Tablet Magazine, Table Magazine, The Forward, and S&P Central’s Newsletter. The Los Angeles Times also highlighted the relevance of her historical cookbook Sephardi (September 2021). She attended «The Great Big Jewish Food Fest" (May 2020) as a presenter for a historical-cooking demonstration. She spearheads the culinary live shows “Sephardic Culinary History with chef Hélène Jawhara Piñer”, 13 sessions promoted by the American Sephardi Federation & The Center of Jewish History. She is currently working with chefs like Michael Solomonov concerning Sephardic food, and a collaboration is in progress with the Israeli Embassy of Paris. Dr. Jawhara-Piñer is the author of two books that are published with Academic Studies Press / Cherry Orchard Books. The first one is a historical cookbook entitled Sephardi: Cooking the History. Recipes of the Jews of Spain and the Diaspora from the 13th Century to Today (2021) whose foreword is written by David Gitlitz (University of Rhode Island). The second one in an academic book entitled Jews, Food and Spain: The Oldest Medieval Spanish Cookbook and the Sephardic Culinary Heritage [Fall 2022] whose foreword is written by Paul Freedman (University of Yale).