Five Boroughs Food Talk: Jewish Food

After walking out of Symphony Space last week, I felt confused by the whole talk. I felt like the food talk focused on a specific culture in a specific area of Manhattan, while masking itself as a talk about “Jewish food” of all the “Five Boroughs.” Sure, much of the culture may have been influenced by the Jews who immigrated to America- they shaped the community, bringing certain foods as well as traditions and religious practices relating to it. But I think the discussion assumed that “Jewish food” = bagels, gefilte fish, lox and deli, simply because they are associate with that specific community (and possibly the Jews of that specific community.) I felt that the talk was lacking in that there was no mention of how- or if- these are actually jewish foods.

One thing that I found interesting was the comments about “Jewish food” not necessarily being kosher, or abiding by some of the basic rules pertaining to Jewish food. I would’ve liked to hear their thoughts about what makes “Jewish food” remain “Jewish,” even when some of the fundamental qualities that those foods had when they were first brought over to America are stripped away.

Another thing: Notice how there were five guests on the stage, four who were of the Ashkenaz (Eastern European, Russian, etc) communities, and one who had Sephardic culture (middle eastern, Spanish), specifically Iraq. The Sephardic woman hardly spoke except when asked about her specific business, and I think that may expand upon the fact that the sole focus of the discussion was on Jews of Eastern Europe. Gefilte fish, lox, deli- these are foods associated with Ashkenaz Jews. I found it interesting that the discussion didn’t give much openness to what they defined as “Jewish food”- it is specific foods from specific people who came from specific countries to a specific area of Manhattan. Almost as if to say: that IS what “Jewish food” means, no question about it.

Although it was cool to hear about “Jewish food” through a cultural lens, I think I would’ve enjoyed it more if it wasn’t so specific to that area of Manhattan. I would’ve enjoyed a discussion that could be easily overlapped with a discussion about other culturally connected foods, but I guess that wasn’t the aim of this talk.