Joan Nathan was born in Providence, Rhode Island. She graduated from the University of Michigan, where she eventually received a master's degree in public administration from Harvard University. For three years she lived in Israel, where she worked for Mayor Teddy Kollek of Jerusalem. In New York, she founded the Ninth Avenue Food Festival. Ms. Nathan wrote for the Washington Post for eight years and currently contributes articles on international ethnic food and special holiday features to the New York Times, Food Arts, Gourmet, and the B'nai B'rith International Jewish Monthly. She is the author of An American Folklife Cookbook and coauthor of The Flavor of Jerusalem. Ms. Nathan lives in Washington, D.C., with her husband and their three children.