gourmet ghettos: modern food rituals (2014) exhibition flyer

The Magnes | Fall Exhibitions 2014

THE MAGNES COLLECTION OF JEWISH ART AND LIFETHE BANCROFT LIBRARY, UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA, BERKELEY2121 ALLSTON WAY, BERKELEY, CA 94704510.643.2526 • MAGNES.ORG

ON VIEW: Thursday, August 28-Friday, December 19, 2014

For thousands of years, food rituals have been essential to constructing and maintaining Jewish identities throughout the diaspora. But the significance of these rituals might be more pervasive than we think. Gourmet Ghettos: Modern Food Rituals explores the broader linkages between food, ritual, identity, and activism that inform in Jewish life.

By highlighting over 150 objects from around the world, ranging from cookware, tableware, and kitchen textiles to books, manuscripts, paintings and drawings, this exhibition examines Jewish food rituals as meaningful frameworks with which to contextualize today’s food movement, a phenomenon that is deeply embedded in Berkeley’s history, a city with its own “gourmet ghetto” and powerful tradition of social justice.

Curators: Francesco Spagnolo (The Magnes) and India Mandelkern (PhD Candidate, Department of History) Visiting Diller Scholar: Yahil Zaban (Tel Aviv University)

Modern Food RitualsCase Study No. 5 Gourmet Ghettos