Doc Chat Forty-Seven: What’s Cooking in the Yiddish Kitchen - Recipes for Immigrant Women
On March 10, 2022, Doc Chat cooked up another great episode on the rich history of Yiddish cookbooks.
Crisco recipes for the Jewish housewife, 1933
Dorot Jewish Division; NYPL Digital Collections, Image ID: 4063241.
A weekly series from NYPL's Center for Research in the Humanities, Doc Chat pairs an NYPL curator or specialist and a scholar to discuss evocative digitized items from the Library's collections and brainstorm innovative ways of teaching with them. In Episode Forty-Seven, NYPL’s Amanda Seigel and Performance Studies scholar Barbara Kirshenblatt-Gimblett explored the world of Yiddish cookbooks published by food companies, featuring products like matzoh, peanut oil, baking powder, kasha, and Crisco.
Doc Chat Episode 47: What's Cooking in the Yiddish Kitchen - Recipes for Immigrant Women from The New York Public Library on Vimeo.
A transcript of this episode is available here.
Below are some handy links to materials and sources suggested in the episode.
Episode Forty-Seven: Primary Sources
The Dorot Jewish Division is a remarkable resource for those studying the history of Jewish cookbooks. For a complete listing of the Division's holdings, see this Collection Guide developed by the late Roberta Saltzman.
For research ideas and support, use this Research Guide on the topic.
Explore additional digitized Jewish cookbooks on NYPL's Digital Collections.
Episode Forty-Seven: Readings and Resources
Ruth Abusch-Magder, "Cookbooks in the United States," Encyclopedia of Jewish Women.
American Foodways: The Jewish contribution, University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee online exhibition.
Daniel E. Feinberg and Alice Crosetto, "Cookbooks: Preserving Jewish Tradition" Judaica Librarianship, Volume 16/17 (2011).
Joan Nathan, "Joan Nathan’s Guide to Essential Jewish Cookbooks," Saveur.com.
A Taste of Yidishkayt: An Annotated Guide to All Things Food-Related in the Center's Collections, Yiddish Book Center.
Join the Doc Chat Conversation
Doc Chat episodes take place on Zoom every Thursday at 3:30 PM. Check out upcoming episodes on NYPL's calendar, and make sure you don't miss an episode by signing up for NYPL's Research newsletter, which will include links to register. A video of each episode will be posted on the Doc Chat Channel of NYPL's blog shortly after the program. There you can also explore videos and resources for past episodes. See you at the next Doc Chat!