Chef Beejhy Barhany is bringing the rich, complex flavors of Ethiopian Jewish cuisine to the heart of Harlem, New York City. Through her restaurant Tsion Cafe and her groundbreaking 2025 cookbook Gursha, Barhany is preserving and celebrating the culinary heritage of Beta Israel—Ethiopian Jews—while introducing these distinctive flavors to a broader American audience. Her work represents a significant moment in food culture, highlighting the intersection of Jewish and Black identity through cuisine during a time when celebrating cultural diversity has never been more important.
Chef Beejhy Barhany's Journey: From Ethiopia to Harlem
Beejhy Barhany's personal journey spans continents and decades, shaped by her family's search for religious freedom and her own commitment to cultural preservation. Born in Ethiopia, Barhany's family fled their homeland on foot, seeking the safety and religious liberty that had been denied to them. Their journey took them through Sudan before they eventually settled in Israel, where Barhany served in the
When Barhany arrived in Harlem in 2000, she recognized an opportunity to share her heritage with a new community. Rather than simply opening a restaurant, she took a more comprehensive approach to cultural preservation. In 2003, she founded the Beta Israel of North America Cultural Foundation, an organization dedicated to promoting Ethiopian Jewish culture through multiple channels. The foundation organized cooking classes that taught community members how to prepare traditional dishes, hosted Shabbat dinners that brought people together around Ethiopian Jewish food and ritual, and created events that celebrated the unique identity of Beta Israel in America.
This foundation work laid crucial groundwork for what would become her most visible platform. It established Barhany as a cultural authority and community leader, built relationships with people interested in Ethiopian Jewish heritage, and created demand for a permanent space where this cuisine could be experienced regularly. The foundation's success demonstrated that there was genuine interest in Ethiopian Jewish culture among both community members and the broader New York audience.
Tsion Cafe: A Harlem Institution for Ethiopian Jewish Cuisine
In 2012, Barhany opened Tsion Cafe, a restaurant dedicated to Beta Israel cuisine. The name "Tsion" carries deep significance, referencing Zion and the historical and spiritual connections of Ethiopian Jews to their heritage. From its opening, the restaurant has specialized in the distinctive flavors and techniques of Ethiopian Jewish cooking, featuring:
- Injera: The spongy, fermented flatbread that serves as both plate and utensil in Ethiopian dining
- Spiced stews: Complex, slow-cooked preparations that build flavor through layered spices and careful technique
- Berbere spice blend: The foundational spice mixture that defines much of Ethiopian Jewish cuisine, combining chili peppers, fenugreek, coriander, cardamom, black pepper, cinnamon, and cloves
- Plant-based preparations: Traditional dishes adapted to accommodate modern dietary preferences
In 2024, Barhany made a significant operational decision that reflected her evolving vision and response to contemporary events. She transitioned Tsion Cafe to fully kosher and vegan operations. This move was motivated by her desire to emphasize her Black Jewish identity during a period of rising antisemitism following October 7, 2023. Rather than viewing these requirements as limitations, Barhany approached them as opportunities to demonstrate the sophistication and adaptability of Ethiopian Jewish cuisine.
The transition to fully vegan operations proved that Ethiopian Jewish cuisine, with its historical emphasis on plant-based dishes and legume-based stews, could thrive without animal products. This evolution demonstrates how her restaurant serves not just as a dining destination but as a statement of cultural pride, religious commitment, and culinary innovation. The restaurant became a space where customers could experience authentic Ethiopian Jewish food while supporting a Black Jewish business owner during a challenging period for Jewish communities.
Gursha Cookbook: Preserving Ethiopian Jewish Culinary Heritage
The release of Gursha in spring 2025 marks a watershed moment for Ethiopian Jewish cuisine in America. The cookbook's title carries profound cultural significance—"gursha" refers to the Ethiopian tradition of hand-feeding others as an act of generosity and intimacy. This practice, central to Ethiopian dining culture, symbolizes care, respect, and community. By naming her cookbook after this tradition, Barhany emphasizes that her work is fundamentally about connection and sharing, not merely about recipes.
Gursha features over 100 recipes adapted for modern kitchens, making Ethiopian Jewish cuisine accessible to home cooks without requiring specialized equipment or hard-to-find ingredients. The cookbook is reportedly the first dedicated entirely to Ethiopian Jewish recipes, filling a significant gap in American food literature. This distinction is particularly important given that approximately 2,000 Ethiopian Jews live across all of America, according to Hadassah Magazine. The cookbook ensures that these culinary traditions, refined over millennia in Ethiopia, remain documented and accessible to future generations.
The collection in Gursha balances tradition with innovation. Alongside traditional dishes like doro wat (spiced chicken stew), readers will find contemporary creations such as injera fish tacos. This approach demonstrates that Ethiopian Jewish cuisine is neither static nor limited to historical preparations. Instead, it is a living, evolving tradition that can honor its roots while embracing contemporary culinary creativity and modern ingredients.
Barhany has articulated her vision for the cookbook clearly: "I wanted to bring aspects of my community into this book. Since it is the first Ethiopian Jewish cookbook, I wanted to give it an honor and have it used as a reference for people." This statement reveals her understanding of the cookbook's significance beyond entertainment or casual cooking—she envisions Gursha as a reference work, a authoritative source that future generations can consult to understand and prepare Ethiopian Jewish food authentically.
The cookbook's release has been accompanied by public appearances and demonstrations. In April 2025, Barhany participated in a Demo and Dine event at the James Beard Foundation, where she cooked and discussed her new cookbook with food enthusiasts and industry professionals. This prestigious platform amplifies her message and positions Ethiopian Jewish cuisine within the broader conversation about important American food traditions.
Rosh Hashanah Menu: Ethiopian Spices Meet Jewish Tradition
Barhany's Rosh Hashanah menu exemplifies how Ethiopian spices transform Jewish holiday traditions. The Jewish New Year, celebrated with specific foods that carry symbolic meaning, becomes a vehicle for exploring Ethiopian Jewish culinary identity. The menu prominently features beg wot, a lamb stew traditionally served during Rosh Hashanah, which Barhany has adapted into a vegan version without sacrificing the complex, warming flavors that make the dish special.
The use of berbere—the complex spice blend containing chili peppers, fenugreek, coriander, cardamom, black pepper, cinnamon, and cloves—creates depth and richness that elevates holiday meals beyond conventional preparations. Rather than the mild, often bland versions of holiday foods found in some Jewish communities, Barhany's approach celebrates bold flavors and aromatic spices that reflect Ethiopian culinary traditions. This demonstrates that Jewish holiday food need not be limited to Ashkenazi or Sephardic traditions; Ethiopian Jewish approaches offer equally valid and deeply meaningful alternatives.
The Rosh Hashanah menu serves multiple purposes simultaneously. It honors the religious significance of the holiday, provides dishes with appropriate symbolic meaning for the Jewish New Year, celebrates Ethiopian Jewish cultural identity, and demonstrates the versatility of plant-based cooking. This multifaceted approach reflects Barhany's sophisticated understanding of how food operates on multiple levels—as nourishment, as cultural expression, as religious practice, and as political statement.
The Cultural Significance of Ethiopian Jewish Cuisine in America
The significance of Barhany's work extends far beyond restaurant operations and cookbook publication. Ethiopian Jewish cuisine has existed for centuries, yet it remains largely unknown in mainstream American food discourse. This erasure reflects broader patterns in which cuisines associated with African and Middle Eastern Jewish communities receive less attention and prestige than European Jewish food traditions. Barhany's insistence that "I want to shine a light on the rich Ethiopian Jewish cuisine that has been there for millennia" represents a deliberate effort to correct this historical oversight.
By centering Ethiopian Jewish food in prestigious venues like the James Beard Foundation and through a published cookbook, Barhany challenges narratives that exclude Black Jewish experiences from discussions of Jewish culture and American Jewish food traditions. She is not simply promoting her restaurant or selling cookbooks—she is actively reshaping how American food culture understands Jewish identity and Black identity.
Barhany has articulated this broader mission clearly: "We are educating people about Jewish and Black diversity and inclusion through the food during a new Harlem renaissance." This perspective positions food not merely as sustenance or entertainment but as a vehicle for cultural education and social change. In a Harlem neighborhood experiencing renewed cultural vitality, Tsion Cafe contributes to conversations about identity, belonging, and the ways that immigrant and diaspora communities shape American culture.
The timing of Barhany's work is particularly significant. Her decision to transition to fully kosher and vegan operations in 2024, during a period of rising antisemitism, demonstrates how she uses her platform to assert Black Jewish identity and visibility. Her cookbook release in 2025 comes at a moment when American food culture is increasingly recognizing the importance of amplifying voices from marginalized communities and celebrating cuisines that have been historically overlooked.
Ethiopian Jewish cuisine, with its unique position at the intersection of African, Middle Eastern, and Jewish culinary traditions, offers something genuinely distinctive to American food culture. The spice profiles, cooking techniques, and ceremonial significance of these dishes provide depth that resonates with contemporary diners seeking authenticity and cultural connection through food. Barhany's work ensures that this cuisine receives the recognition and respect it deserves.
Through her restaurant, cookbook, and public appearances, Beejhy Barhany is actively preserving and promoting a culinary heritage that represents centuries of Ethiopian Jewish history, resilience, and cultural pride. Her commitment to documentation, education, and celebration ensures that Ethiopian Jewish food traditions remain accessible to future generations. In doing so, she tells stories of migration, survival, identity, and belonging that resonate far beyond the dining room, contributing to broader conversations about diversity, inclusion, and the power of food to connect us to our histories and to each other.
Sources
- Automated Pipeline
- Why this Harlem chef is the queen of Ethiopian-Jewish cuisine
- Harlem-based Ethiopian Israeli chef visits to dish on her new cookbook
- Demo and Dine: Ethiopian Jewish Cuisine with Beejhy Barhany
- Interview with Beejhy Barhany, Owner of Tsion Café in Harlem
- An Ethiopian 'Mouthful' From Beejhy Barhany
- Source: aish.com
- Source: smithsonianmag.com
