Helen Corey

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Helen E. Corey (October 9, 1923 – January 28, 2024) was an American cookbook author, television producer, and educator. She was the first American woman of Syrian descent to be elected to public office in Indiana. Corey is best known for her cookbooks The Art of Syrian Cookery (1962) and Helen Corey's Food from Biblical Lands (1989), in which she highlighted the biblical roots of Middle Eastern food and encouraged sharing meals as a way to bring people together across cultures and faiths. She also wrote about Eastern Christianity and her family's Antiochian Orthodox Christian traditions.

Corey was born in Canton, Ohio, to Maheeba (“Mabel”) and Mkhyal (“Michael”) Core, who were born near Damascus, Syria, and moved to the United States. In 1946 she moved with her family to Terre Haute, Indiana, which had a growing Syrian Christian community. In 2018 she helped commemorate the Little Syria on the Wabash historic marker, recognizing the area’s early Syrian immigrant neighborhood. As a member of St. George Orthodox Church, she often served as a local representative for her church and served on its board of trustees.

Her work aimed to raise public awareness of Syrian culture and the Antiochian Orthodox Church’s feast and fast days. Corey had five godchildren and described herself as part of a close-knit family community.

Corey died in Terre Haute on January 28, 2024, at age 100.

Public life and publishing
- The Art of Syrian Cookery (1962) was her first major cookbook. She later founded CharLyn Publishing, which released Helen Corey's Food From Biblical Lands (1989) and Healthy Syrian and Lebanese Cooking (2004).
- A television show inspired by Food From Biblical Lands aired in 1990, and she produced a documentary about Easter in the Syrian Antiochian Orthodox Church.
- She hosted and conducted interviews with international guests on various programs.
- Her 2004 book Healthy Syrian and Lebanese Cooking won first place from the National Federation of Press Women out of 1,700 submissions.

Government and public service
- From 1948 to 1961 she worked as secretary to Terre Haute Mayor Ralph Tucker and served as Indiana’s Young Democrat National Committeewoman.
- In 1963 she was executive secretary of the Indiana Commission on the Status of Women.
- In November 1964 she was elected Reporter for the Supreme and Appellate Courts, becoming Indiana’s first Syrian American elected to public office.

Food, culture, and faith
- Corey's cookbooks emphasize Lent and pre-Lent traditions in the Syrian Orthodox Christian tradition, including meat-, dairy-, and egg-free days, and often feature vegan or fish-based recipes.
- Dishes commonly appear with ingredients like lentils, fava beans, eggplant, and hummus bi-tahini.
- Her work is seen as culinary diplomacy—using food to foster cross-cultural understanding and dialogue.