Saturday, January 25, 2014

Knishing Through "Knish"

Always an admirer of Jewish faith and culture, I knew a knish was some type of Jewish food.   Most cultures share similar types of food - noodles, dumplings, turnovers, etc.   Knish: In Search of Jewish Soul Food by Laura Silver finally gives the homely knish its due.  I'm about half-way through the book (previewing it for Edelweiss) and one of the things I like the most is how the author shows the ways in which communities thrive around certain types of food.  At one time, knish shops were common, this one favored more than that one and vice versa, depending on your family or location.  Not so anymore.  As with the Yiddish language, time and changing demographics have chipped away at this Jewish comfort food, but Laura Silver is doing her best to keep it alive.

A nice companion read would be Outwitting History:  the Amazing Adventures of a Man Who Rescued a Million Yiddish Books by Aaron Lansky.


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