Sephardic Jews
The Latest
-
Recipes Sukkot makes me dream of a beef tagine with quinces
A fall dish for the holiday come from North Africa and draws out the charms of an often overlooked fruit
-
Culture ‘A David and Goliath story’: The Jewish history of Cinco de Mayo
The 1862 Battle of Puebla paved the way for Mexico to become a haven for Jews fleeing persecution.
-
Culture Do the Madrigals from Disney’s ‘Encanto’ descend from Sephardic Jews?
While I was watching “Encanto,” I wondered if its magical Madrigals, the family at the heart of the Oscar-nominated Disney animated film, were Jewish. They’re close-knit to the point of being smothering. They’re successful yet grappling with generations of pain. And their powers come from a candle that has miraculously burned for 50 years —…
-
Food Adafina, a Sephardic Shabbat stew
Adefina, adafina, dafina, aní, hamín, caliente, trasnochado. All these names refer to one thing: the quintessential Shabbat dish of the Sephardic Jews of the 15th century. It was commonly known under different names, and this would have been one way Jews were able to deceive Inquisition officials, as this dish would have revealed the makers…
-
Food Swiss chard stew with chickpeas
This recipe is reprinted with permission from Hélène Jawhara Piñer “Sephardi: Cooking the History.” In an Inquisition trial record from July 13, 1590, we learn that Catalina Albarez, a conversa, prepared a dish with meat (from which she had carefully removed the fat), Swiss chard, and chickpeas. The recipe below, acelgas con garbanzos in Spanish,…
-
Food The deepest secrets of Sephardic cooking are buried here
Some cookbook authors get their recipes from chefs. Hélène Jawhara Piñer got hers from the Inquisition. The coiled holiday breads, long-simmered stews, and honey-sweetened, orange-scented desserts collected within Piñer’s remarkable new book of Sephardic cookery derive not from family recipes passed down through well-worn cookbooks or hand-scribbled notes on food-stained scraps of paper, but from…
-
Culture How Jewish exiles from Vienna remade Hollywood in their image
When the Academy Museum of Motion Pictures opened earlier this year, it faced criticism for neglecting the foundational role American Jewish immigrants played in the movie industry. Its recent symposium and screening series, “Vienna in Hollywood,” planned long in advance of the opening, helped set the record straight. It highlighted the contributions of the European…
-
Food Pumpkin knishes and spicy pumpkin dip: Jews and pumpkins go back long before Thanksgiving
A Yiddish poem by the writer Leyb Kvitko suggests that pumpkin knishes were familiar to Jews in the Soviet Union
Most Popular
- 1
Fast Forward Unarmed man who tackled Bondi Beach Hanukkah attacker identified as Ahmed al-Ahmed
- 2
Opinion I grew up believing Australia was the best place to be Jewish. This Hanukkah shooting forces a reckoning I do not want.
- 3
Fast Forward Hanukkah shooting leaves at least 15 dead at Australia’s most popular beach
- 4
Fast Forward Father and son suspects in Bondi Beach Hanukkah attack identified as Sajid and Naveed Akram by law enforcement
In Case You Missed It
-
Opinion The Israel news we don’t hear – and the forces that silence us
-
Fast Forward Zohran Mamdani visits the Rebbe’s Ohel, increasingly a pilgrimage site for politicians
-
Culture In making a Christian case for Shabbat, Charlie Kirk stripped off its Judaism
-
News Christians are displaying menorahs in their windows post-Bondi Beach attack. Why some Jews object
-
Shop the Forward Store
100% of profits support our journalism
