Know Your Nosh: Food, Jewishness, and Identity

This exhibit explores the significance of food for Jewish religious, cultural, national, and political identities, focusing on the United States and Israel/Palestine. Food has been used to create, maintain, and reimagine boundaries in Jewish communities. The borrowing and appropriation of foods from other cultures have helped shape new Jewish identities. Different groups of Jews have navigated diverse majority cultures, using food both to solidify ethnic identities and to challenge—or reinforce—narratives of tolerance and inclusion. Jewish farmers are growing food with ecologically sensitive methods and educating their communities in response to the climate crisis. 

We center the Jewish Renewal community, highlighting the strength of the Innovations in Jewish Life Collections, a collaboration between the University Libraries Rare and Distinctive Collections and CU Boulder’s Program in Jewish Studies.