The Sephardic Table: The Vibrant Cooking of the Mediterranean Jews-A Personal Collection of Recipes from the Middle East, North Africa and India

Pamela Grau Twena's introduction to Sephardic culture began on a blind date. Her future husband came from a family of Iraqi Jews who had immigrated to Israel. She was a non-observant Jew from Hollywood whose encounters with Jewish food had been limited to her grandmother's matzoh ball soup, a semiannual brisket, and an occasional cheese blintz. Twena's mother-in-law ushered her into a world of flavorful dishes. Captivated, she coaxed out the recipes, which had been passed through generations but never written down. Beginning with her husband's extended family, she went on to interview members of the Sephardic community (the term for Jews with ancient roots in Spain), persuading them to open their kitchens to her and divulge their coveted recipes. The result is a collection of 175 of Twena's favorite recipes from Morocco, Libya, Algeria, and Tunisia in North Africa; from the Ottoman communities of Turkey, Rhodes, and Greece; from Syria, Lebanon, Egypt, Iraq, and Iran in the Middle East;

Pamela Grau Tewna spent nearly a year in Isreal, where she learned Sephardic traditions from he Iraqi in-laws. Returning to California, she spent years collectiong Sephardic recipes, successfully self-publishing a book on the subject. She lives in Newport Beach, California.