Held on March 5, 2014
Although there were a few very well-known cookbooks for Jewish families published before the Second World War in America, the post war period saw a tremendous increase in the numbers of this genre. In particular, Jewish groups all over America published community cookbooks, usually for the purpose of fundraising. These books represent a new pride in identity which was intimately tied to the very public nature of Jewish suffering during the Holocaust. Working with the important collection of Jewish Community Cookbooks at the Dorot Division of the New York Public Library, this project seeks to put these cookbooks into the context of postwar American culture and an emerging sense of global citizenship.
Megan J. Elias is the Director of the Gastronomy Program and Associate Professor at Boston University. Her work and research explore the rich history of food and culture through prisms of food writing, markets, and home economics. Dr. Elias has designed and taught classes in the areas of food studies, food in world history, food and gender, American women’s history, and African American history.