TASTE MATTERS with Benjamin Wurgaft July 26, 2007

"Exotic, Nostalgic, Bizarre: Jewish Food in the Eyes of American European Food Writers"

Over the past two centuries, food writers, both Jewish and non-Jewish, have described the cuisine of Jewish societies in striking terms, often marked by the tropes of orientalism, nostalgia, or anti-Semitism. Descriptions of "Jewish food," its ingredients, sights and smells, provide a means to negotiate complex attitudes towards Jewish difference, and the possibilities of maintaining a Jewish identity in the modern world. Wurgaft surveys a range of food writers in an attempt to trace the representation of Jewish identity in a small, but lively, literary domain.

$8 non-members; $6 members.

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