The Sephardic Heritage Cookbook (2016): A Case Study
For class assignments, students wrote short research papers on topics associated with the cookbook. In one essay, students focused on the history of the congregation, on the routes of migration that had drawn its members to California, or on particular dishes or practices. In another, they studied a single ingredient. Later they engaged in an experiential learning exercise, with teams of three cooking from the book and documenting their efforts in writing and film. Along the way, students learned about Sephardic Jewish history and culture in the context of the Middle East, North Africa, and Iberian Peninsula (including Andalusia, or Islamic Spain). On a more nuts-and-bolts level, they learned about producing public-facing scholarship, in this case by using the platform called Scalar, which supports the display of multimodal content via text, film, and sound.
The students assembled this site in the hope that it will interest members of the public who enjoy reading about the history of food and cookbooks; Sephardic Jewish diasporic cultures; and the intersection of American history and culture with the lands of the Middle East, North Africa, and broader Islamic world, including Andalusia (Spain), North Africa and Western Asia, the territories of the former Ottoman Empire, and Persia.
Source: Sephardic Temple Or Chadash Sisterhood, Sephardic Heritage Cookbook: Ottoman, Persian, Moroccan, Egyptian Recipes and More (North Charleston, South Carolina: CreateSpace Independent Publishing Platform, 2016). ISBN-13: 9781539430636