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Feasting and Fasting: The History and Ethics of Jewish Food
How Judaism and food are intertwined
Judaism is a religion that is enthusiastic about food. Jewish holidays are inevitably celebrated through eating particular foods, or around fasting and then eating particular foods. Through fasting, feasting, dining, and noshing, food infuses the rich traditions of Judaism into daily life. What do the complicated laws of kosher food mean to Jews? How does food in Jewish bellies shape the hearts and minds of Jews? What does the Jewish relationship with food teach us about Christianity, Islam, and religion itself? Can food shape the future of Judaism?
Feasting and Fasting explores questions like these to offer an expansive look at how Judaism and food have been intertwined, both historically and today. It also grapples with the charged ethical debates about how food choices reflect competing Jewish values about community, animals, the natural world and the very meaning of being human. Encompassing historical, ethnographic, and theoretical viewpoints, and including contributions dedicated to the religious dimensions of foods including garlic, Crisco, peanut oil, and wine, the volume advances the state of both Jewish studies and religious studies scholarship on food.
Bookended with a foreword by the Jewish historian Hasia Diner and an epilogue by the novelist and food activist Jonathan Safran Foer, Feasting and Fasting provides a resource for anyone who hungers to understand how food and religion intersect.
Judaism is a religion that is enthusiastic about food. Jewish holidays are inevitably celebrated through eating particular foods, or around fasting and then eating particular foods. Through fasting, feasting, dining, and noshing, food infuses the rich traditions of Judaism into daily life. What do the complicated laws of kosher food mean to Jews? How does food in Jewish bellies shape the hearts and minds of Jews? What does the Jewish relationship with food teach us about Christianity, Islam, and religion itself? Can food shape the future of Judaism?
Feasting and Fasting explores questions like these to offer an expansive look at how Judaism and food have been intertwined, both historically and today. It also grapples with the charged ethical debates about how food choices reflect competing Jewish values about community, animals, the natural world and the very meaning of being human. Encompassing historical, ethnographic, and theoretical viewpoints, and including contributions dedicated to the religious dimensions of foods including garlic, Crisco, peanut oil, and wine, the volume advances the state of both Jewish studies and religious studies scholarship on food.
Bookended with a foreword by the Jewish historian Hasia Diner and an epilogue by the novelist and food activist Jonathan Safran Foer, Feasting and Fasting provides a resource for anyone who hungers to understand how food and religion intersect.
384 pages, Paperback
Published January 7, 2020
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About the author
Aaron Gross
9 books1 followerAaron Gross is Assistant Professor of Theology and Religious Studies at University of San Diego, USA, and CEO of Farm Forward.
Also writes as Aaron S. Gross.
Also writes as Aaron S. Gross.
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Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews
January 11, 2021
Way more about feasting than fasting but great collection nonetheless!
March 22, 2020
Wikipedia defines the discipline of food studies as “the critical examination of food and its contexts within science, art, history, society and other fields. It is distinctive from other food-related areas of study such as nutrition, agriculture, gastronomy and culinary arts in that it tends to look beyond the mere consumption, production, and aesthetic appreciation of food, and tries to illuminate food as it relates to a vast number of academic fields.” Jewish food studies give an additional dimension to the discipline by showing how dietary restrictions and the customs that arrive from their practice have changed Jewish religious practice. Some works – for example, “Feasting and Fasting: The History and Ethics of Jewish Food” edited by Aaron S. Gross, Jody Myers and Jordan D. Rosenblum (New York University Press) – are formal and academic, while others, such as “The Dairy Restaurant” by Ben Katchor (Nextbook/Schocken), are more personal and idiosyncratic. Both works show the many connections that exist between food, history and Judaism.
See the rest of my review at http://www.thereportergroup.org/Artic...
See the rest of my review at http://www.thereportergroup.org/Artic...
January 22, 2022
Feasting and Fasting is a thick read, even though only 350 pages. It is purely academic, compiling a series of essays about Jewish Kosher Food Laws and the ethical questions and reasonings behind them.
Not being personally familiar with Kosher laws (the Torah, or the Talmud), I learned a lot about the history and overall philosophical question that Kosher laws try to answer.
However, much of the writings are written with the assumption that the reader has read the Biblical (and beyond) texts in question, and only touch on the original scriptures.
They explore how these laws have changed over the last 2000+ years, and spend a great deal of time addressing Kosher law in the 20th century, following the introduction of certain foods to the Jewish American communities, and the evolving question of ethics in the last 30 years or so.
Even after completing this dense compilation, I still have many unanswered questions about Kosher laws. But I do have a greater understanding of what the motivations behind these laws are.
Not being personally familiar with Kosher laws (the Torah, or the Talmud), I learned a lot about the history and overall philosophical question that Kosher laws try to answer.
However, much of the writings are written with the assumption that the reader has read the Biblical (and beyond) texts in question, and only touch on the original scriptures.
They explore how these laws have changed over the last 2000+ years, and spend a great deal of time addressing Kosher law in the 20th century, following the introduction of certain foods to the Jewish American communities, and the evolving question of ethics in the last 30 years or so.
Even after completing this dense compilation, I still have many unanswered questions about Kosher laws. But I do have a greater understanding of what the motivations behind these laws are.
February 11, 2025
Well written and curated essays.
I learned a lot and I am left with a lot to chew on, pun absolutely intended.
I learned a lot and I am left with a lot to chew on, pun absolutely intended.
Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews