Eating in Israel, 1st ed. 2021 Nationhood, Gender and Food Culture Food and Identity in a Globalising World Series

This book explores the relationship between the food culture of Israel and the creation of its national identity. It is an effort to research what the mundane, everyday behaviours such as cooking and feeding ourselves and others, can tell us about the places we were born and the cultural practices of a nation.  

With the aim of developing a better understanding of the many facets of Israeli nationalism, this ethnographic work interrogates how ordinary Israelis, in particular women, use food in their everyday life to construct, perform and resist national narratives. It explores how Israeli national identity is experienced through its food culture, and how social and political transformations are reflected in the consumption patterns of Israeli society. 

The book highlights understudied themes in anthropology, food studies and gender studies, and focuses on three key themes: food and national identity construction, the role of women as feeders of the nation, and everyday nationhood. It is a relevant work for researchers and students interested in the study of food, gender, nationalism and the Middle East; as well as for food writers and bloggers alike.  

Section 1: The Invention of Israeli Food.- 1. The Invention of Israeli Food.- 2. Eating as an Israeli.- 3. Between Tel Aviv and the Kibbutz: Rural and Urban Diets.- Section 2. The Battle for Israeli food.- 4.  A Kosher Nation?.- 5. How Shabbat has kept Israel: From the Private to the National.- 6. “They tried to kill us; we survived, let’s eat”: Food and rituals in the Israeli household.- 7. They might be our enemies, but they sure know how to cook: Palestinian Food in Israel.- 8. Conclusions: Is there such a thing as Arab Jewish Food?

Claudia Prieto Piastro is an Anthropologist and the Program Element Leader for Social Sciences, Humanities, and Education at Brunel University London Pathway College, UK. Her research focuses on everyday nationalism, creolisation, and the role of food in the construction of national identity as well as in immigration, food culture, and religious identities.