Food and Holiness: Cooking as a Sacred Act among Middle-Eastern Jewish Women

Sered, Susan Starr

doi:10.2307/3317789

Cited by 36 publications

(26 citation statements)

References 7 publications

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“…The meanings these food-centred occupations hold for women seem consistent with women perceiving themselves and their lives in terms of their relationships with others (Gilligan, 1982;Sered, 1988), and appraising their worth against an ethic of nurturance, responsibility and care for others (Gilligan). For example, the primary meaning of preparing, cooking and serving food, at least among retired Swedish women, is doing something for others.…”

Section: Gender and Food-centred Occupationsmentioning

confidence: 84%

“…In many cultures, consumption of particular kinds of food is perceived to absorb people into the group that practices those traditions (Fischler, 1988). An example is provided by Sered's (1988) study of older Middle-Eastern Jewish women, who consciously used traditional foods to strengthen their descendents bonds to Judaism. In particular, the women heavily invested their time, effort, and money into preparing and providing the traditional foods that would make their descendents feel Jewish, by melding the "smells, textures, and tastes of Jewish cooking" (p. 133) into their identity.…”

Section: Tradition and Food-centred Occupationsmentioning

confidence: 99%

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The Meaning of Cooking and Recipe Work for Older Thai and New Zealand Women

Hocking

Clair

Bunrayong

2002

Journal of Occupational Science

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Section: Gender and Food-centred Occupationsmentioning

confidence: 84%

Section: Tradition and Food-centred Occupationsmentioning

confidence: 99%

The Meaning of Cooking and Recipe Work for Older Thai and New Zealand Women

Hocking

Clair

Bunrayong

2002

Journal of Occupational Science

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“…By using quiet power, by creating a ritual that focuses on domestic topics, women raise the legitimacy level of the ceremony and direct their marginality to the challenge of elevating physical, mundane elements of food and home to the level of a religious ceremony. In fact, the responsibility of feeding their families, which devolves upon women in many societies, (Bynum 1987;Sered 1988a) ostensibly preserves their marginal status but also endows great power (Joyce 2000).…”

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Like the rituals described in this article, many women's rituals involve food (Kanafani 1983;Sacks 1989;Sered 1988a) and have profound historical roots (Bynum 1987;Weinstein and Bell 1982). The main reason seems to be that in many societies women are the ones responsible for feeding the family (Bynum 1987;Sered 1988b).…”

Section: For Authors Personal Usementioning

confidence: 99%

“At ‘Amen Meals’ It’s Me and God” Religion and Gender: A New Jewish Women’s Ritual

Shahar

2015

Cont Jewry

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New ritual practices performed by Jewish women can serve as test cases for an examination of the phenomenon of the creation of religious rituals by women. These food-related rituals, which have been termed ''amen meals'' were developed in Israel beginning in the year 2000 and subsequently spread to Jewish women in Europe and the United States. This study employs a qualitative-ethnographic methodology grounded in participant-observation and in-depth interviews to describe these nonobligatory, extra-halakhic rituals. What makes these rituals stand out is the women's sense that through these rituals they experience a direct connection to God and, thus, can change reality, i.e., bring about jobs, marriages, children, health, and salvation for friends and loved ones. The ''amen'' rituals also create an open, inclusive woman's space imbued with strong spiritual-emotional energies that counter the women's religious marginality. Finally, the purposes and functions of these rituals, including identity building and displays of cultural capital, are considered within a theoretical framework that views ''doing gender'' and ''doing religion'' as an integrated experience.

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“…Yet, the definitions and understandings of food waste are not straightforward [2,11]. Whilst research into the transformation of raw ingredients into edible foodstuffs is well established in the social sciences and humanities [7,12,13], there is very little understanding of the cultural processes whereby food intended for consumption is psychologically, socially, and culturally diverted to-or re-conceptualised as, waste [14].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Representations of Food Waste in Reality Food Television: An Exploratory Analysis of Ramsay’s Kitchen Nightmares

Thompson

Haigh

2017

Sustainability

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Food waste is a global issue with serious economic and environmental implications. Although a number of psychosocial and cultural factors have been identified, little attention has been paid to how food waste is culturally presented, circulated, and mediated. In this exploratory study, we consider how food waste is presented in the thriving genre of reality food television. Specifically, we conducted a content and discourse analysis of UK television programme, Ramsay's Kitchen Nightmares (RKN). We found that visual and discursive references to food waste are associated with business, food, and personal incompetency in RKN. Furthermore, food handling was constructed as a moral issue. In RKN, food waste is not resolved via specific educational interventions for food waste prevention, but through attention to broader personal, business, and food incompetencies, which are value-laden and morally relevant. We discuss the symbolic dimensions of the transformation of food into food waste by drawing on Mary Douglas' ideas of matter out of place. We suggest that food waste research and behavior change could benefit from addressing personal, professional, and moral competencies which may not be directly related to food, but which may reduce food waste. Our analysis of food waste in a televised environment extends waste research in specific geographical locations and spatial contexts.

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Food and Holiness: Cooking as a Sacred Act among Middle-Eastern Jewish Women

Cited by 36 publications

References 7 publications

The Meaning of Cooking and Recipe Work for Older Thai and New Zealand Women

The Meaning of Cooking and Recipe Work for Older Thai and New Zealand Women

“At ‘Amen Meals’ It’s Me and God” Religion and Gender: A New Jewish Women’s Ritual

Representations of Food Waste in Reality Food Television: An Exploratory Analysis of Ramsay’s Kitchen Nightmares

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