The only child of mathematician and a medical doctor, Gur was born in the Latvian capital Riga in the then Soviet Union and immigrated to Israel in 1974.

Upon reaching army age she joined the IDF's academic corps and studied English literature at the Hebrew University.

Janna Gur, as the chief editor, was involved in editing of over 40 Hebrew cookbooks, among them Sheshet – "The Kitchen Helper" series, which offered innovative approach to understanding recipes and cooking techniques.

[8] Janna Gur's second book, published in 2014 by Shocken is part of her ongoing project to preserve Jewish ethnic cuisines.

[9] Based on the premise that the only way to keep a cuisine alive is to cook the food, Gur created a collection of 100 dishes from various Jewish communities, worth preserving for their taste and practicality and suited to a contemporary kitchen.

The book, that features 140 Israeli recipes, along with background stories on local food markets (shuks), key ingredients, seasonality and cooking techniques, has been named as one of the 10 Top Cookbooks for the Fall of 2019 by Publishers Weekly and was awarded a starred review.