Sunday Brunch: Faith and Food in Medieval and Early Modern Spain: The Jewish Culinary Identity

Complimentary brunch is served at 9 AM and the lecture begins at 10 AM. In-person and online options available, register to receive the Zoom link. This event is free and open to the public. Register at https://tinyurl.com/faithandfood26
This lecture offers a scholarly analysis of Jewish culinary identity in medieval Iberia, situating food at the intersection of religion, medicine, politics, and cultural exchange. Drawing on archival research and the earliest Iberian cookbooks, it examines how Jewish food practices developed within—and in dialogue with—Muslim and Christian culinary traditions. The lecture compares the thirteenth-century Kitāb al-ṭabīkh with fourteenth-century cookbooks produced under Christian rule, analyzing these texts as both culinary and dietary manuals shaped by religious law, medical theory, and social hierarchy. Particular attention is given to the oldest extant Spanish cookbook, which preserves the earliest explicitly Jewish recipes, revealing the Jewish contribution to Andalusian cuisine and shared culinary knowledge across confessional boundaries.