Food and Identity in Early Rabbinic Judaism

Download or read book Food and Identity in Early Rabbinic Judaism written by Jordan Rosenblum and published by Cambridge University Press. This book was released on 2010-05-17 with total page 239 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Food often defines societies and even civilizations. Through particular commensality restrictions, groups form distinct identities. This identity is enacted daily, turning the biological need to eat into a culturally significant activity. In this book, Jordan D. Rosenblum explores how food regulations and practices helped to construct the identity of early rabbinic Judaism. Bringing together the scholarship of rabbinics with that of food studies, this volume first examines the historical reality of food production and consumption in Roman-era Palestine. It then explores how early rabbinic food regulations created a distinct Jewish, male, and rabbinic identity.