“When I was a little boy, I ate real kosher meat, not like this. It was tasty, it was greasy, and it was great.” “What kind of meat was it?” I ask. “It was pork,” replies Grigorii. “There are special butchers for pigs. Otherwise their meat is not kosher.”(1)“Soviet Jewish Foodways: Transformation through Detabooization,” Gennady Estraikh, in Global Jewish Foodways: […]
Tag: pork
The Jewish Connection to a New Years Soul Food Classic
One of the amazing things you uncover when you study food is the similarities between foods of different cultures. Flavors, cooking methods, symbolism and more — when similar things crop up in the cuisines of distinct cultures, they underscore how connected we all are, rather than the things that separate us. A symbolic New Years food from the American South […]
2021: The Year in Jewish Food
In what has now become an annual tradition, I’d like to welcome you to my Jewish Food Year in Review. To see how much (or little) has changed since last year, here is 2020’s Year in Jewish Food post. While the world has not yet fully emerged from under the cloud of the Covid-19 pandemic, there was a lot to […]
Kosher Pork Chops and Other Crypto-Jewish Foods
One of the saddest chapters in Jewish history is also one of the more interesting on a gastronomic level. Following the forced conversions in 15th century Spain, and the Inquisition and subsequent Expulsion, many so-called New Christians secretly maintained Jewish beliefs. Practicing in secret to avoid arrest and torturous execution, they are now known as Crypto-Jews. (1)The better-known term Marrano […]
Jewish Food? What’s THAT?!
Anyone who has been following this blog even slightly since its launch, over the last month or so, knows I use the term “Jewish Food” a lot. And if you’ve heard any of my Food Talks over the past few years, or read the “About this Site” page, you know some of my thoughts on the concept. But a recent […]