Hélène Jawhara Piñer

Hélène Jawhara Piñer is a PhD in Medieval History and the History of Food. She teaches medieval history at two French universities, Bordeaux-Montaigne and Tours. She has been awarded by the Broome & Allen Fellowship from the American Sephardi Federation in 2018, 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. At the beginning of October 2021, the Society for Crypto-Judaic Studies also awarded her by the David Gitlitz Emerging Scholar Prize for her accomplishment and engagement in Sephardic History research. She has been awarded a Visiting Research Fellowship by the Schoenberg Institute for Manuscript Studies (SIMS) at the University of Pennsylvania Libraries to conduct research on her proposed topic: “From Persecution to Plate: Uncovering the Culinary Practices of Sephardic Jews through Inquisition Trials” (April -May 2024).

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. In 2017 she attended the Society for Crypto-Judaic Studies congress (Philadelphia), the Diwan at the Casa de Velásquez of Madrid, and in 2018 she gave talks and lectures both at Bar Ilan University (Israel) and for the International Congress organized by the CTHS in Paris. In July 2019, she attended the 1st Congress of Jewish Studies in Strasbourg (France). She presented her work at the University of São Paulo (USP) (2019), Carnegie Mellon University (2022), The Hebrew University of Jerusalem (2022). She also gave a lecture at the University of Pennsylvania (UPenn) in February 2023, and at the University of Yale in April 2023. Her articles are 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), Conceptos (University of Bordeaux-Montaigne, France). Her recipes have appeared in the Sephardi World Weekly, Tablet Magazine, The Forward, Table Magazine, and S&P Central’s Newsletter. The Los Angeles Times, El País also highlighted the relevance of her historical cookbook Sephardi, as the Jewish Book Council. 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 and Daniel Ovadía concerning Sephardic food. She is a Member of Foodish Advisory Board of ANU Museum (Tel Aviv). 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 the late David Gitlitz (University of Rhode Island). It has also been translated in Spanish Sefardí: Cocinar la historia. This book has been awarded by the Gourmand World Awards as “the Best Jewish Cuisine Book” in 2021. The second one in an academic book entitled Jews, Food and Spain: The Oldest Medieval Spanish Cookbook and the Sephardic Culinary Heritage [December 2022] whose foreword is written by Paul Freedman (University of Yale). This book was finalist of the Jewish Book Awards in the “Sephardic Culture” category, in 2023.

Her new cookbook, “Matzah and Flour. Recipes from the History of the Sephardic Jews” will be available for Fall 2024.