Color me stupid, I just couldn’t sort out the three FOOD sessions being taught by Professor Rachel Gross of San Francisco State University. So I sat down and sketched out the exact details. I’m posting them here on my website so I can easily refer friends and foodies to them. Here we go!
Classes on food with Rachel B. Gross is Assistant Professor and John and Marcia Goldman Chair in American Jewish Studies at San Francisco State University.
First we have a single session class:
The Deli Revival and Practicing American Jewish Religion
In the twenty-first century, there has been a nostalgic resurgence of interest in the Jewish deli menu. Jewish studies professor Rachel B. Gross examines how a revitalized deli cuisine reflects the longing of American Jews for authentic Jewish pasts and serves as a way to pass on Jewish values to future generations. Engaging in the deli revival provides an alternative, under-appreciated way of practicing American Jewish religion.
One session, $5
Oct 24, 7:00 – 8:20pm
Offered by the Contra Costa JCC‘s Under One Tent with partner, New Lehrhaus.
Register HERE
On Zoom
Second is a two session class, Food Fights.
Food Fights: Authority and Authenticity in American Jewish Food
This course will examine shifting ideas about who is an authority on Jewish food and what counts as Jewish food in the United States throughout the twentieth and twenty-first centuries. We’ll examine artisanal delis (including in the Bay Area), the 1933 Crisco Recipes for the Jewish Housewife, and the “culinary delights” of 1950s kitchens. Manufacturers, cookbook authors, publishers, and restaurateurs have all used food to express their longing for Jewish pasts, to reshape American Jewish communities in the present, and to articulate values for the future. Thinking about American Jewish food in these contexts will help us reconsider where we look for religious practice and whom we see as a religious expert.
Session 1, Dec. 6: Jews, Schmaltz, and Crisco: Authority and Authenticity in the Age of Industrial Food
Session 2, Dec. 13: Shabbat Candlestick Salad: The Serious Business of Jewish Food and Fun in the 1950s
Free
Online
Offered by New Lehrhaus
Register HERE to receive the Zoom link for the class.
If you have MORE questions just email me at dawn@buildingjewishbridges.org.