Sephardi cuisine

10/16/2026

10/13/2026

I see the little light brighting at the end of the tunnel of the research I started two years and a half ago when I got the SIMS fellowship from the university of Pennsylvania to work at archives kept at the Kislak library.
I am finally going to discover what is gonna happen to these conversa Jewish woman whose trial starting in 1567.
On April 2 1568 the Holy office of the inquisition of Toledo, Spain, let her know that she is going to be “puesta a la cuestión de tormento de agua (water)💧 y cordeles (strings)”. She’s going to be tortured because of all the charges against her that were mainly related to her Food practices (avoiding pork, touching pork cleaning the house on Fridays removing the fat from the meat cooking stews with eggs the way that the Jews used to do, etc).

She rejected all those accusations.

The inquisitors begged her to tell the truth before she was exposed to danger and suffer. But she answered them that she did not know what to say and that that she told them all the truth.

Fortunately, this little light brighting in the tunnel marks the beginning of the nightmare for this woman.

10/09/2026

Dimanche 25 octobre à 15h à la Maison Rachi de Troyes!

Je vous propose d’assister à une conférence gratuite (mais réservation néanmoins nécessaire) sur la cuisine de Rachi et l’importance de l’alimentation pour le tzadik champenois du XIe siècle.

Je vous présenterai le livret que j’ai réalisé pour la Maison Rachi et qui s’intitule « La cuisine de Rachi ».
Quelques petites douceurs 🍪 tirées de mes recherches sur cette thématique pourraient même être proposées.

J’aurai l’honneur d’avoir Rafael Mezrahi en tant que maître de cérémonie, ce qui laisse présager de passionnantes conversations!

Mon livre de cuisine « Séfarade: une histoire culinaire des Juifs d’Espagne de la diaspora en 55 recettes » sera également disponible à la vente.

conférence gratuite 💰
réservation, obligatoire sur
rachi-troyes.org/réservations/conference/

09/22/2026

🍋 🍇 starts this Friday 25th!

This story is the latest and the oldest one we know about Converso Jews celebrating a Jewish holiday in Mexico and it dates back to the very beginning of the 17th century.

Among the dishes found on the banquet organised by the Portuguese crypto Jewish community there are TURCOS: small individual pie stuffed with ground lamb raisins, apples, cinnamon.

Today this dish is part of New Mexico state in the US, but there are made for Christmas…

Recipe in my cookbook MATZAH AND FLOUR
— 25%off on academic Studio Press website: 25PINER2026

Tee shirt 👕 by

09/18/2026

Yom Kippur is around the corner.
Yom Kippur was regarded by the conversos as the most solemn and essential festival in their religious calendar with a particular focus on the importance of fasting as it means to safeguard their soul.

It goes by various names but the most frequently mention was “The great day” or also “equipuz”, “ the fast of the big day” .

This year, I’m gonna make:

- gazpachuelo: The hot lemon 🍋 and egg 🥚 soup (from my cookbook SEPHARDI)
- Fish pie: Gaspar Vaez’ s fish empanadas (from my cookbook Matzah and Flour)
- fresh cheese (from my cookbook Matzah and Flour)
- toledan biscuits with hot chocolate (from my cookbook Matzah and Flour)

During the high holiday period you have 25% off on all my books on academic studies press website with the promo code 25PINER2026.

Link 🔗 in bio!

09/11/2026

High Holiday period!

I made this recipe from my cookbook Matzah and Flour and it’s a recipe of fried tortillas that the Suares family as making in 1505 in the Spanish city of Almazan, close to Madrid.

they were announced for making those unleavened fried tortillas , made the same way as the family used to make matzah, but this time for the feast of the horn, they added an egg and olive oil in the dough.

Fried tortilla + hummus = 🤤

HIGH HOLIDAYS SPECIAL OFFER: 25% off on all my books on academic studies press website with 💰promocode : 2026PINER25

Link 🔗 in bio

08/03/2026

This inquisition trial was written to give “Informations against the Jews” :
“ informaciones contra los judíos. Información que hizo este colegio de los alborotos e inquietudes que creaban los judíos en las comunidades.”

June 30th 1497
Salamanca, Spain

07/31/2026

July 31st 1492 marked the deadline for the Jews to leave Spain.
They could not bring anything with them.
They had to leave the country them and their ancestors have been living in since the second century.

In this official Decree, one can understand how Food was used as one of the reason why the Jews must be expelled from Sefarad.

Who says that Food is not politics?

#1492

07/23/2026

What do we know about Tisha Be Av practices among the Sephardic converso Jews?