Preserving Your Family Recipes & Stories

What is Jewish food? Learn to interview and capture family stories, develop and preserve family recipes, and document and share your family’s culinary legacy. This workshop will build on a range of examples from The Jewish Food Society archive and book. Jewish Food Society team members will walk the participants through the process while sharing family stories, beautiful visuals and demonstrating recipe development. They will also share ideas and guidance for using these materials for further local community engagement and encourage participants to share their own research with Jewish Food Society for publication on the digital archive. Participants will receive designed handouts that support this process with their own families.

This workshop introduces participants to the power of food to create deep connections and a space for potentially difficult conversations.

The Asheville JCC, the Center for Jewish Studies and CBHT Sisterhood present: Preserving Your Family Recipes and Stories: from the Jewish Food Society.

Event is free and open to the public. Registration required.

Presenter Bios:

Yael Raviv joined Jewish Food Society as COO in 2021. She is the author of Falafel Nation: Cuisine and the Making of National Identity in Israel (2015) and numerous articles on food and culture. Yael received her PhD from NYU’s Department of Performance Studies, and subsequently taught at NYU’s Nutrition and Food Studies Department as well as at UNISG (Bra, Italy). She founded and helmed the non-profit Umami food and art festival through 2020.

Talya Avisar is a culinary and hospitality professional with experience in restaurant management, recipe development, and food content. After serving as General Manager at the Michelin-starred Shmoné, she now works as Culinary Manager at the Jewish Food Society, overseeing all culinary aspects of the organization—from recipe testing to studio shoots and cooking demonstrations.