1/31/12
1/30/12
Some questions for this week...
David Kraemer cites milgrom in saying that "the customs and rituals of any society are a reflection of it's values." (Kraemer p. 12-13) What are the values behind separating milk from meat? Furthermore, why are (some) Jews as heavily invested in this Kashrut policy as they are in the pig?
If eating practices are perhaps more important than the food choices, what are they (for Jews) and how do they that reflect (Jewish) values?
It appears that there is an argument regarding whether these rules were of/for the elite vs. the common person. It feels important that we should touch on this, yet I cannot formulate a coherent question at this time.
If prohibited food represents "gentile food"- wherein the food represents that person- what is the characteristics for which Israelites/Judeans were trying to avoid in their neighbors?
Is there a specifically "jewish" food? If so, what and why/how?
(I like parenthetical comments)
If eating practices are perhaps more important than the food choices, what are they (for Jews) and how do they that reflect (Jewish) values?
It appears that there is an argument regarding whether these rules were of/for the elite vs. the common person. It feels important that we should touch on this, yet I cannot formulate a coherent question at this time.
If prohibited food represents "gentile food"- wherein the food represents that person- what is the characteristics for which Israelites/Judeans were trying to avoid in their neighbors?
Is there a specifically "jewish" food? If so, what and why/how?
(I like parenthetical comments)
1/29/12
Looking for a farmer's market in the LA area?
Check out this interactive map from The Los Angeles Times.
The Gravest Danger? Renegade Jews
1/28/12
On Changing Identities...
A Jewish man moves into a Catholic neighborhood. Every Friday during Lent, the Catholics are driven crazy because, while they're grumpily eating fish, the Jewish Man is outside grilling steaks.
So the Catholics work on the Jewish man to convert him to Catholicism. Finally, after a lot of pressure and much arguing, the Catholics succeed. They take the Jewish man to a priest who sprinkles holy water on him and says, "Born a Jew, Raised a Jew, Now a Catholic."
The Catholics are ecstatic. No more tempting smells! They sit down for dinner the next Friday evening, but the scent of grilled meat spreads through the neighborhood. The Catholics all rush to the Jewish Man's house to remind him of his new diet.
They see him standing over the grille cooking steak. He is sprinkling water on the meat and saying, "Born a cow, Raised a cow, Now a fish!"
1/27/12
Can We Afford Kosher Lettuce?
On the front page of The Jewish Journal: "A Story of Bugs, Business, and Kosher Salad." Enjoy those veggies this weekend...
1/26/12
Left over from class today...
All those questions I posted to the blog earlier in the week? Use them to continue/create conversations sparked by class and the reading. Please post responses and answers to the questions even before class meets.
For instance, last week we talked about our food habits. Today we talked about food taboos. What are yours?
And, since it's so good (and we definitely didn't get near it today): Is meat feminine or masculine? (You'll need to back up your answer with a reasoned theory.)
Go to town folks--can't wait to hear what you've got to say on the matter....
For instance, last week we talked about our food habits. Today we talked about food taboos. What are yours?
And, since it's so good (and we definitely didn't get near it today): Is meat feminine or masculine? (You'll need to back up your answer with a reasoned theory.)
Go to town folks--can't wait to hear what you've got to say on the matter....
Kosher Wine Event. In LA! No Joke.
1/25/12
AmJewHUC LA: Food Edition: What the Rambam says....
And I think this is what Hog Heaven wanted to post.
1/23/12
One pig, two opinions....
“We ought to bear in mind that the dietary laws are not, as some have asserted, motivated by therapeutic considerations, God forbid! Were that so, the Torah would be reduced to the level of a minor medical treatise. This is abhorrent. Moreover the alleged ill-effects can be treated with various drugs, just as there are antidotes to the most powerful poisons. In that event the prohibition would no longer apply, and the Torah would be rendered void. … The non-Jews who eat pork and the meat of other impure animals, birds and fish, enjoy good health and are not affected adversely by these.”
Isaac ben Moses Arama, Akedat Yitzhak, 60. (1480s; published 1522)
What the Rambam says....
“The food which is forbidden by the Torah is unwholesome. There is nothing among the forbidden kinds of food whose harmful character is doubted, except pork and fat. But in these cases, too, the doubt is not justified. For pork contains more moisture than is necessary and too much of superfluous matter. The principle reason why the Torah forbids swine’s flesh is to be found in the circumstance that its habits and its food are very dirty and loathsome. It has already been pointed out how emphatically the Torah enjoys the removal of the sight of loathsome objects, even in the field and the camp, how much more objectionable is such a sight in towns! But if it were allowed to eat swine’s flesh, the streets and houses would be filthier than any cesspool as may be seen at present in the country of the Franks. A saying of our Sages declared: ‘The mouth of a swine is as filthy as dung itself.’”
Moses Maimonides, Guide for the Perplexed 3:48. (1191)
Pig Love vs Pig Hate
Some questions to ponder for this week's reading (remember, post at least one response before Wednesday ends):
Each of our authors re-imagines, even re-purposes, Levi-Strauss' culinary triangle of raw-cooked-rotten. The triangle itself is full of ambiguity but he posits that it maps onto different kinds of triangles (e.g., roasted-smoked-boiled, nature-culture-culture). In recycling it, how do our authors contribute to the structural understanding of specific cultural foodways? Are they successful in "redeeming" his theory?
Mary Douglas suggests that non-kosher animals are rendered unfit because they themselves are ambiguous; they do not have the full characteristics of land, sea or air animals. What is gained in an analysis of kashrut that focuses only on triads? What is lost in that kind of analysis?
Why do people love the pig? And why do people hate it so? What boundaries does the pig reinforce or break down?
How much does the origin and intention of a food or foodway (either prohibition or encouragement) really matter to its meaning in a specific culture?
Is meat feminine or masculine? (You'll need to back up your response with a reasoned theory.)
And, finally, if pork barbeque is Southern and the pig is anathema to Judaism, what do we do about Southern Jews?
Each of our authors re-imagines, even re-purposes, Levi-Strauss' culinary triangle of raw-cooked-rotten. The triangle itself is full of ambiguity but he posits that it maps onto different kinds of triangles (e.g., roasted-smoked-boiled, nature-culture-culture). In recycling it, how do our authors contribute to the structural understanding of specific cultural foodways? Are they successful in "redeeming" his theory?
Mary Douglas suggests that non-kosher animals are rendered unfit because they themselves are ambiguous; they do not have the full characteristics of land, sea or air animals. What is gained in an analysis of kashrut that focuses only on triads? What is lost in that kind of analysis?
Why do people love the pig? And why do people hate it so? What boundaries does the pig reinforce or break down?
How much does the origin and intention of a food or foodway (either prohibition or encouragement) really matter to its meaning in a specific culture?
Is meat feminine or masculine? (You'll need to back up your response with a reasoned theory.)
And, finally, if pork barbeque is Southern and the pig is anathema to Judaism, what do we do about Southern Jews?
1/19/12
B-I-N-G-O
For the Food Bingo Card, pick 16 of the following activities and complete by the end of the semester. Don't forget! Get a memento of some sort to prove you've completed the task. The first five are mandatory. Happy hunting!
Volunteer at Food Bank (1 hour)
Garden (1 hour)
Find a food with both a Kosher & a Halal certification
Go to an unfamiliar ethnic restaurant
Attend a Los Angeles area food event (non-HUC/URJ/CCAR related)
Try a radical (for you) new diet for 5 days (e.g., vegan, vegetarian, gluten free, fast food)
Go to an area U-Pick farm
Keep a food diary (1 week)—write EVERYTHING down (food and drink)
Cook a new ethnic (Jewish or otherwise) recipe
Go to a place with a Tav Hayosher hekscher
Visit a kosher vineyard or an organic farm
Eat alone (a la MFK Fisher)
Accompany a mashgiach
Pick a single Jewish food and get multiple recipes for it
Talk to a farmer (at a farmer's market is okay)
Pick a fallen fruit
Cook an entirely locavore meal (i.e., use ingredients available only within a 10 mile radius)
Bless your food with proper blessing before and after for every item for 5 days
Find a food from your hometown
Interview a Jewish food leader (chefs can be included)
Keep a diary of your food waste (1 week) (everything you throw away)
Eat a biblical meal (all foods must be named in the TaNaKh; make sure to find the sources)
Track your food expenses for 1 week (in categories, e.g., junk, produce, bread)
Interview a kosher butcher
Try an utterly new food you have never tried before (can be a fruit, vegetable, dish, whatever)
1/15/12
Questions for class
As you prepare for class on Thursday, January 19, keep these questions in mind. We'll discuss them in class as we set up the terms of our semester long discussion on Judaism and food.
1) How do you characterize the role(s) food plays in culture, society and religion? What is universal about those roles? And what part(s) of those roles is/are unique, relative and or particular to individuals and individual societies?
2) How do sex and gender intersect with those roles and the play of food in society (and/or culture)?
3) What tools (analytic, metaphoric) do Barthes and Levi-Strauss give us to understand the practices of food and the meaning we ascribe to food?
4) In what way(s) does food (including food practices, assumptions about food, ignorance about food, and meaning ascribed to food) underlie American culture (particularly in S. California) and Judaism (particularly Reform Judaism)?
1) How do you characterize the role(s) food plays in culture, society and religion? What is universal about those roles? And what part(s) of those roles is/are unique, relative and or particular to individuals and individual societies?
2) How do sex and gender intersect with those roles and the play of food in society (and/or culture)?
3) What tools (analytic, metaphoric) do Barthes and Levi-Strauss give us to understand the practices of food and the meaning we ascribe to food?
4) In what way(s) does food (including food practices, assumptions about food, ignorance about food, and meaning ascribed to food) underlie American culture (particularly in S. California) and Judaism (particularly Reform Judaism)?
1/13/12
Sort of related (but not really)...
...and yet I still want to post it to this site. Check out the piece by Matt Gross (formerly The Frugal Traveler for The New York Times) on his recent, largely unwilling trip to Jerusalem.
1/11/12
Where To Eat Armenian in LA
Oh, I know, I know, it's a class about Judaism and Food. But this article is so well done and intersects with so many of the cultural and historical issues that it's certainly worthwhile. Plus, c'mon, who doesn't love Armenian food? "10 Great Armenian Restaurants in LA" (thank you Los Angeles Magazine)
1/9/12
Get your reading on....
Want to get a head start? You know I'm just that kind of person to assign reading for the Very First Day. It's all been uploaded to Sakai (which should go live tomorrow).
MFK Fisher, "On Dining Alone," The Art of Eating
Roland Barthes, "Toward a Psychosociology of Contempory Food Consumption," Food and Culture: A Reader
Carole Counihan, "Food, Culture and Gender," The Anthropology of Food and Body: Gender, Meaning and Power
Claude Levi-Strauss, "The Culinary Triangle," Food and Culture: A Reader
Ann Vileisis, "Kitchen Literacy: How We Lost Knowledge of Where Food Comes From and Why We Need To Get It Back," (pages 3-11 only)
MFK Fisher, "On Dining Alone," The Art of Eating
Roland Barthes, "Toward a Psychosociology of Contempory Food Consumption," Food and Culture: A Reader
Carole Counihan, "Food, Culture and Gender," The Anthropology of Food and Body: Gender, Meaning and Power
Claude Levi-Strauss, "The Culinary Triangle," Food and Culture: A Reader
Ann Vileisis, "Kitchen Literacy: How We Lost Knowledge of Where Food Comes From and Why We Need To Get It Back," (pages 3-11 only)
Making Manischewitz Cool(er)
I'm sure there's no irony meant with the timing of this article (the day after Christmas): "After 123 Years, Manischewitz Creates Kosher Food for Gentiles." Thank you New York Times.
1/8/12
An age-old tradition...
I'm fairly confident you've seen this photo but on the off chance you haven't...enjoy:
Why Jews -do- Farm
So many great articles to catch up on! Check out Leah Koenig's piece on Jewish farming in Tablet (from Aug. 19, 2011).
On Sweet Wine (and why we drink it)
Great piece on the draw of sweet, kosher wine from Yoni Appelbaum in The Atlantic, "The 11th Plague? Why People Drink Sweet Wine on Passover" (April, 2011).
a little belated (no, just early for 5772)
The PJA's Food Desert Seder Plate reminding us that deserts exist all around us.
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It is ON!
Welch's for Pesah? " Welch's Teams With Manischewitz in Battle Over Kosher Grape Juice " (NPR, 10/10/17)
