Name Joan Nathan | Role Author | |
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Education Harvard University, John F. Kennedy School of Government, University of Michigan TV shows Jewish Cooking in America with Joan Nathan Awards James Beard Foundation Award for Who's Who of Food and Beverage in America Nominations James Beard Award for Best National Television Cooking Show Books Jewish cooking in America, The Jewish holiday kitchen, Joan Nathan's Jewish H, The Foods of Israel Today, The New American Cooking | ||
Alon Shaya, "Shaya" (w/ 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.
Contents
- Alon Shaya Shaya w Joan Nathan
- Education
- Israel
- Television
- Marriage
- Cookbooks
- Awards
- Guest appearances
- Other
- References
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. As a newspaper food journalist she has visited, among other places, France and Brazil, uncovering new dishes or researching Jewish cuisine.
Israel
She lived in Israel for three years working for Mayor Teddy Kollek of Jerusalem.
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.
Marriage
Nathan is married to Allan Gerson, an attorney; the couple has three children. Gerson and Nathan divide their time between Washington, D.C. and Martha's Vineyard.
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.
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.
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.
Awards
In May 2011, Nathan received a Special Recognition Award from the YIVO Institute for Jewish Research for her contribution to preserving Jewish culture.
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.