From the Jewish Heartland: Two Centuries of Midwest Foodways

From the Jewish Heartland: Two Centuries of Midwest Foodways. By Ellen F. Steinberg and Jack H. Prost. (Urbana: University of Illinois Press, 2011. Pp. ? + 207, acknowledgments, introduction, photographs, appendix, notes, bibliography, index. $32.95 cloth.)A silver Hanukkah menorah (chanukkiah) with nine upright ears of golden corn in place of candles graces the cover of From the Jewish Heartland: Two Centuries of Midwest Foodways. This image is beguiling, attractive- even a bit wry - and it suggests an engaging theme: the unique but appropriate melding of Jewish tradition with Midwestern culture, perhaps the expression of Jewish identity through the adaptation of Midwestern foods. The cover entices the reader to open the book and learn about the substance of this artistically hypothesized synthesis.But if you are looking for analysis and theory, for a clear definition of what makes Midwestern Jewish foodways Midwestern (or Jewish) or what they might tell us about Jewish life and identity in the heartland over the course of the past two hundred years, you may be disappointed. On the other hand, if you are looking for celebration, nostalgia, evocative description, entfiusiasm, traditional recipes, and convincing restaurant recommendations, you may find a lot here to like.In spite of the corn on the cover, the word corn does not appear in the index (unless you count "corned" beef) . One apparently "hybrid" food Steinberg and Prost do mention is "corn rye," also called "tzizel bread," a bakery-produced loaf of rye bread heavily dusted with cornmeal, perhaps originating in St. Louis (134). Maybe corn is intended only as a symbol of the heartland and it is too literal of me to look for dishes that actually use corn; but as I read familiar East European, German, and even Sephardic recipes, I wondered if heartland Jewish foodways consist only of "survivals" from "the old country," or if there actually were any hybrid dishes (besides corn rye) that combine identities symbolically. I was hoping to learn other ways to uiink about Midwestern Jewish foodways besides survivals.But I'm not yet done with corn. I grew up in a Jewish family that observed kashrut in Omaha, Nebraska. (Omahans consider dieir city to be witfiin die Midwest's core even if Steinberg and Prost do not [1].) Besides summer meals in which corn on die cob was die main dish, we also ate corn bread and corn fritters. If Jewish foodways only means survivals of old world dishes, these dishes obviously don't count, but die reality was that diese corn-based dishes were central parts, even main dishes, of dairy only (milchidik) suppers, which always seemed to be a challenge for my modier given die "meat and potatoes" expectation of Midwestern meals. So, are corn on the cob, cornbread, and corn fritters not Midwest Jewish dishes? Not because Jews eat diem but because diey may have subdy articulated (I can't speak for more dian my own family) the Jewishness of meals through dieir conscious use in observing kashrut while providing a satisfying meal?Kashrut seems to me to still be an important issue regarding die Jewishness of foodways, even when kashrut is abrogated, but die authors do not give kashrut the attention it deserves. To take an example from another region in which Jews were and are a small minority, there is Carolyn Lipson-Walker's pioneering work on Southern Jewish foodways in which she revealed how personal narratives Jews told about dieir own trespassing of the rules of kashrut were, paradoxically, a way to conserve dieir Jewish identity. …