Chef Sabah Halva grew up in a Mizrahi Jewish household where halva was not a specialty item — it was always present, made from sesame paste or semolina depending on the occasion, cut into pieces and offered with tea or set out at the end of a meal without ceremony. Mizrahi Jewish communities span Iraq, Yemen, Iran, Syria, and beyond, and while their food traditions vary by region, halva in its many forms runs through all of them as a common thread.

Her work draws from that broad but specific tradition — tahini halva made with sesame paste and sweetened with honey or syrup, semolina halva cooked with butter and fragrant with rosewater, and date-filled mamoul cookies pressed into carved wooden molds and made in large batches for Eid, Purim, and Eid al-Adha alike. Sabah understands that Mizrahi Jewish sweets sit at the intersection of Jewish dietary tradition and the food cultures of the Middle East — a combination that produced dishes eaten across religious communities and carried across borders through diaspora.

In Universo da Doçura, Chef Sabah represents a pastry tradition that is ancient, communal, and shaped by centuries of Jewish life in the Middle East. Her halva is made correctly, her mamoul molds are well-seasoned, and her kitchen always has dates.