What do both of these have in common? Well, almost everything, actually. Eastern European Jewish immigrants brought with them their food. According to my father, the son of a Polish immigrant, “Food is inextricably tied to culture. Sharing food is a communal experience.” As a child, I never quite understood why he always had a craving for food from Zabar’s, a long-time “Old Jewish Man’s Food” delicacy shop on West 80th Street and Broadway on the Upper West Side. However, he explained, “The smell of blintzes, kasha, gefilte fish, and other Jewish food is nostalgic—it brings me back to my childhood.”
Having grown up in the same house I now live in on the south shore of Brooklyn, my father lived among many different immigrant communities. He described sharing cultural foods as “breaking bread”; by sharing each other’s food, he and his friends shared cultures and formed a bond. Going back further to my grandmother’s childhood, Anita was raised in the same culture and, therefore, ate the same food that my father would come to love.
My father also noted the connection between food and animals. Besides providing protein in the form of steak, animals throughout history played an important role in food history. Animals helped protect farms and yielded other foodstuffs, such as eggs and milk. This phenomena goes back as far as humankind, when humans relied on animal companions to provide them with protection and nutrition.
While my father did not work on a farm and I am not sure if my grandmother ever did, it is safe to assume she might have. She grew up at the turn of the 20th century in Poland, where farms were more common than they were in the Lower East Side, where she would eventually live when she came to America. As a result, animals and culture are also very closely tied in history. In fact, certain animals and breeds of dogs are associated with particular countries. For example, camels are associated with the desert and, in historical discussion, can be found in cultures spanning from the Sahara to the Persian Deserts.
The importance of food in regards to culture cannot be understated. These ties can be found in any culture, but this trend is very familiar to my father. Over time, however, as is the case with multi-generational immigrant families, later generations gradually detach themselves from their immigrant cultures and, as a result, lose a craving for the food their ancestors brought here. Case in point: my siblings and I generally do not eat the same foods my father loves. In the case of my father, however, despite becoming “Americanized” he has not forgotten his roots, stopping by Zabar’s when he has the chance; he will invariably do this on the way home, when he picks me up from City College after a long day of work.
