Joan Nathan

Joan Nathan is an American cookbook author and newspaper journalist. She has produced TV documentaries on the subject of Jewish cuisine. She was a co-founder of New York's Ninth Avenue Food Festival under then-Mayor Abraham Beame. The Jerusalem Post has called her the "matriarch of Jewish cooking".[1]

Joan Nathan
BornProvidence, Rhode Island, U.S.
OccupationJournalist
LanguageEnglish
Alma materUniversity of Michigan
GenreCookbooks
Notable worksQuiches, Kugels and Couscous: My Search for Jewish Cooking in France
Website
joannathan.com

Education

Joan Nathan was born in Providence, Rhode Island to Pearl (Gluck) Nathan and Ernest Nathan. After receiving a master's degree in French literature from the University of Michigan, she earned another master's degree in public administration from Harvard University's John F. Kennedy School of Government.[2] As a newspaper food journalist she has visited, among other places, France[3] and Brazil,[4] uncovering new dishes or researching Jewish cuisine.

Career

Television

She was executive producer and host of Jewish Cooking in America with Joan Nathan, a PBS series based on her cookbook, Jewish Cooking in America.[2]

Cookbooks

Nathan has written ten cookbooks, winning numerous awards for them. Six are about Jewish cuisine and two on Israeli cuisine. Her goal is to preserve Jewish traditions by interviewing cooks and documenting their recipes and stories for posterity.[5]

In 1985, An American Folklife Cookbook won the R.T. French Tastemaker Award (now the James Beard Award). The New American Cooking won the James Beard and IACP Awards for Food of the Americas and Best American Cookbook. She was guest curator of Food Culture USA at the 2005 Smithsonian Folklife Festival, which was based on the research for her book.[2]

Two decades later, in 2005, Jewish Cooking in America won the Julia Child Award for Best Cookbook of the Year, and the James Beard Award (again) for Food of the Americas.[6]

  • The Flavor of Jerusalem, Little, Brown 1975
  • The Jewish Holiday Kitchen, Schocken 1979
  • An American Folklife Cookbook, Schocken 1984
  • The Children's Jewish Holiday Kitchen, Schocken 1988
  • Jewish Cooking in America, Knopf 1994
  • The Jewish Holiday Baker, Schocken 1997
  • The Foods of Israel Today, Knopf 2001
  • Joan Nathan's Jewish Holiday Cookbook, Schocken 2004
  • The New American Cooking, Knopf 2005
  • Quiches, Kugels and Couscous: My Search for Jewish Cooking in France, Knopf 2010
  • King Solomon's Table: A Culinary Exploration of Jewish Cooking from Around the World, Knopf 2017

Personal life

Israel

She lived in Israel for three years working for Mayor Teddy Kollek of Jerusalem.[7]

Marriage

Nathan was married to Allan Gerson, an attorney; the couple has three children and two grandchildren. Nathan divides her time between Washington, D.C. and Martha's Vineyard.[2]

Awards

In May 2011, Nathan received a Special Recognition Award from the YIVO Institute for Jewish Research for her contribution to preserving Jewish culture.[8]

  • 2008, MacDowell Fellow, the MacDowell Colony
  • 2005, Silver Spoon Award, Food Arts Magazine
  • 2002, Honorary doctorate from the Spertus Institute of Jewish Culture
  • 2001, Inductee into James Beard Foundation's Who's Who in American Food and Beverage
  • 1998, Jewish Daily Forward "Forward 50"
  • 1995, Golda Award, American Jewish Congress
  • 1994, Jewish Cooking in America received the James Beard Award for Best American Cookbook and the IACP/Julia Child Cookbook of the Year Award

Guest appearances

Other

In January 2009, she began choking on a piece of chicken at the Art.Food.Hope dinner in Washington, D.C. but was saved by chef Tom Colicchio, who performed the Heimlich maneuver.[13]

References
  1. "Taste Israeli food with Joan Nathan". The Jerusalem Post. November 16, 2020.
  2. "About Joan Nathan". Random House. Retrieved 2009-07-20.
  3. https://www.nytimes.com/2008/12/17/dining/17hanu.html?em
  4. https://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=990CE3D71F3EF933A15757C0A9639C8B63
  5. "Cooking with chutzpah", Book Section, Haaretz
  6. Joan Nathan profile, New York Times, March 28, 2007.
  7. "Israeli Hanukkah". myrecipes.com. Archived from the original on 2008-12-28. Retrieved 2011-03-07.
  8. "YIVO 10th Annual Heritage Dinner" (PDF). YIVO. Retrieved May 31, 2011.
  9. "Joan Nathan: Book Fest 07". The Library of Congress. Retrieved 2009-07-20.
  10. Denchak, Melissa. "Interview with TV Chef Joan Nathan". Food and Wine. Retrieved 2009-07-20.
  11. "Hannukah with Joan Nathan". Episode CL9422. Food Network. Archived from the original on 2009-10-10. Retrieved 2009-07-20.
  12. "Joan Nathan: An Exotic Holiday Feast". NPR. Retrieved 2009-07-20.
  13. Colicchio Uses Heimlich Maneuver to Save Cookbook Author Archived 2013-09-27 at the Wayback Machine Slash Food, January 19, 2009.
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