Drop-in Hours:

• In-person (626 PH):  Monday & Wednesday, 10:00am - 11:00am
• Virtual: Tuesday, 10:00am - 11:00am
• Or by appointment

Dr. Ariel's research focuses on Jewish communities in the Middle East and the United States. He is particularly interested in ethnic, national, and religious identities, migration, and foodways. His publications include work on topics such as the “Hummus Wars,” ethnic identity in Israel, and Jewish foodways in Israel and the United States. His first book was: Jewish-Muslims Relations and
Migration from Yemen to Palestine in the Late Nineteenth and Twentieth Centuries (Brill,
2014).

Dr. Ariel has taught at New York University, Bryn Mawr College and Boston University. He is currently a member of the board of directors of the Association for Jewish Studies, the largest Jewish Studies organization in the world.  

In addition to his academic accomplishments, Dr. Ariel holds a diploma in culinary arts from French Culinary Institute in New York (now called the International Culinary Center).

At the University of Iowa, he teaches courses in Jewish Studies, Middle Eastern History and
Food Studies.

Dr. Ariel earned a PhD from Columbia University in 2009.

Publications

Books

• Jewish-Muslim Relations and Migration from Yemen to Palestine in the Late Nineteenth and Twentieth Centuries (2014)

Articles

• "My Father's Falafel: Yemeni Jews and (Cultural) Appropriation." Shofar: An Interdisciplinary Journal of Jewish Studies 44,1 (2026) 
• “Identifying: Israeli Food and Ethnic Identity in American Jewry,” Bloomsbury Handbook to Religion and Foodeds Y. Greenberg & B. Zeller (2026)
• "Foodways and the Ethnicization of Yemeni Identity in Israel" Mashriq & Mahjar Special Issue: Food and Middle East Diasporas 6.2 (2019)
• “Feeding Minds: Using Food to Teach the Arab Israeli Conflict" Teaching the Arab-Israel Conflict ed. Rachel S. Harris (2019): 275-281
• "Mosaic or Melting Pot: The Transformation of Middle Eastern Jewish Foodways in Israel" Global Jewish Foodways ed. Hasia R. Diner (2018): 91-114
• “Colonialism, Collective Violence, and the Jewish Communities of Libya and Yemen,” Tema: Journal of Judeo-Yemenite Studies 12.1 (2012)
• “Ethnic Diversity in Israel” The Wiley-Blackwell History of Jews and Judaism, Book 2 (Mar 2012)
• “The Hummus Wars” Gastronomica (Feb 1, 2012)