Kosher Nation: Why More and More of America's Food Answers to a Higher Authority, by Sue Fishkoff, is simply a fascinating read. The author takes many areas of the modern kosher scene, places them in social, historical and political context – and in the process, does so in an entertaining and instructional way.
This book plots the rise of the modern, post-war, kosher food boom. One reason for this boom is the growing affluence of many American Jewish communities. This is combined by the very nature of kashrut to become more exclusionary over time, and with the fracturing of Jewish communities. A kind of frum arms race begins, as each group seeks to out kosher the other. Soon, we are looking for microscopic crabs in the NYC tap water, and scrubbing the green out of a leaf of lettuce.
I can’t imagine another work that handles this topic, and others, with quite so much depth and range. Fishkoff has written a definitive book.
This book plots the rise of the modern, post-war, kosher food boom. One reason for this boom is the growing affluence of many American Jewish communities. This is combined by the very nature of kashrut to become more exclusionary over time, and with the fracturing of Jewish communities. A kind of frum arms race begins, as each group seeks to out kosher the other. Soon, we are looking for microscopic crabs in the NYC tap water, and scrubbing the green out of a leaf of lettuce.
I can’t imagine another work that handles this topic, and others, with quite so much depth and range. Fishkoff has written a definitive book.
No comments:
Post a Comment