Sephardic Spice Girls
Rachel Sheff and Sharon Gomperts
Rachel Emquies Sheff was born in Casablanca to a Spanish Moroccan family that emigrated to Los Angeles when she was seven. She learned to cook from her mother. From precious pearls of couscous to spicy mouthfuls of Moroccan fish, from slow-cooked dafina to crispy, paper thin galettes, Rachel has mastered the art, spice and spirit of the Moroccan kitchen.
Sharon Gomperts was born in Tel Aviv to a family with roots in Baghdad and El Azair, Iraq. Her family emigrated to Sydney, Australia and then to Los Angeles. She learned to cook the classics of Iraqi Jewish food—from the sweet and sour wonders of Kubbah bamia and Kubbah sh’wander to the mouthwatering delights of T’bit and Sabich—from her mother and grandmother.
Appears in
Podcasts
Kubba Bamia with the Sephardic Spice Girls
In this episode of the Kitchen Radio podcast, the Sephardic Spice Girls (Rachel Emquies Sheff + Sharon Gomperts) of Los Angeles serve up Iraqi-Jewish Kubba Bamia and Sephardic Biscochos with tea and talk about how cooking these dishes and story-telling brings their family and community closer to recent lost history. The Sephardic Spice Girls actively write for the Jewish Journal and conduct cooking workshops at the Sephardic Cultural Center in Los Angeles. Learn more and listen now!
Kitchen Radio Guests
The Kitchen Radio podcast brings listeners to the table of communities from the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region for intergenerational stories of community life and ritual practices from guests who are part of a rising renaissance of creative food projects exploring their oft-overlooked Jewish history and heritage.
In each episode, hosts Regine Basha (Founder of Tuning Baghdad) and Nathalie Basha (The Travel Muse), will feature a specific dish and a conversation to introduce the still little-known Jewish culture of the MENA region and re-seed Jewish life into a cultural space where their contribution was forgotten, rendered invisible or white-washed. Guests include: Tannaz Sassooni, Sephardic Spice Girls, Rafram Chaddad, Claudia Roden.