Introduction: Feeding an Identity-Gender, Food and Survival by Norma Baumel Joseph is an article that ties in the cultural heritage of Judaism, food and the female gender, to create a powerful piece on the influence of food and religion in our daily lives.
The author talks about how food is one of the very few things that can contains “the language of memory”, simultaneously being in the present with the food, and in the past with the nostalgia. Norma Joseph also describes how food not only stimulates the mind, but brings back such memories through the other senses of touch, taste, smell and sight.
The article then transitions to the importance of food in the preservation of tradition, as well as the importance of the role of women in this effort to pass on the heritage of such recipes to future generations. Using several critical sources, the author details the early stereotype of “women belong in the kitchen” and how this perception has changed with time to a point where preparing food is a domain of the women, and is the source of their power. One way in which women have shown this power is with the addition of the orange to the Seder. This changed a historical ritual years in the making, while concurrently supporting the gay and lesbian Jews. This ideology was later changed to more generally support gender.
Norma Baumel Joseph, in this article, used the perfect blend of food, gender and religion to deliver a powerful piece on the importance of each aspect, as well as their impact on our daily life and our cultural heritage.
Grade: Check
ReplyDelete