BIO

Elana Benjamin is a Jewish-Australian writer of Indian-Iraqi heritage.

Her new cookbook, Indian-Jewish Food: Recipes and Stories from the Backstreets of Bondi, published by the Sydney Jewish Museum, is now available.

Elana's articles have been published widely, including in Good Weekend, Sunday Life, the Sydney Morning Herald, SBS Voices, The Jewish Independent (formerly Plus61J Media), Kveller, Tablet Magazine, Debrief Daily, Essential Kids and the Jewish Book Council blog.

Elana is a contributor to Growing Up Indian in Australia (2024, Black Inc.). She is also the author of My Mother's Spice Cupboard: A Journey from Baghdad to Bombay to Bondi (2012, Hybrid Publishers), a memoir-history which traces her family's migration from Iraq to India to Australia. 

Elana is a co-founder of Sephardi Mizrahi Voices Australia, an organisation which seeks to raise awareness of the traditions, culture and history of Jews from Southeast Asia, the Middle East, North African and Iran.

Elana holds an Arts/Law degree with a history major from the University of New South Wales. She lives in Sydney with her husband and their two children.