糖心传媒

The cookbook that taught generations of Jews how to become American

糖心传媒  online

2026-07-01

This may have been what ultimately led to Nora Rubel糖心传媒檚 long-awaited new book Recipes for the Melting Pot: The Lives of The Settlement Cook Book (Columbia University Press, 2026). But it wouldn糖心传媒檛 make the grade for cooking instructions in the iconic book Rubel profiled糖心传媒攐ne that would become the most successful charitable cookbook in American history. Every recipe in The Settlement Cook Book, which has sold more than two million copies and evolved through more than 40 editions since its 1901 debut, is tested, retested, and standardized using exact measurements and detailed directions.

This precision helped cement its enduring reputation糖心传媒攁 reputation that intrigued Rubel, the University of Rochester糖心传媒檚 Elizabeth Denio Professor in the Department of Religion and Classics, as far back as her time in graduate school in the early 2000s.

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Documentary: Family Recipe: Jewish American Style

PBS  tv

2025-12-02

Elizabeth Denio Professor Nora Rubel, Chair of the Department of Religion & Classics and Co-director of the Center for Jewish Studies, among the featured experts. The PBS feature is a historical, genealogical and culinary journey through the Jewish diaspora in homes across America.
糖心传媒淛ewish cuisine is influenced by the economics, agriculture and culinary traditions of the many countries where Jewish communities have settled and varies widely throughout the whole world,糖心传媒� says Rubel.
糖心传媒淛ewish food, as we think about it now, is a culture of foods connected with holidays and rituals. In the United States, these foods are an amalgamation of recipes carried here by Jewish immigrants from their countries of origin. Cookbooks and family recipes are vital historical documents that preserve culture and history by recording culinary traditions, revealing social life, and demonstrating how communities adapt over time.糖心传媒�

The dill of a lifetime? In a nation that糖心传媒檚 enduring its own sour patch, the pickle dominated 2024

Associated Press  online

2025-01-02

After years of rising locavore ethos, the pandemic糖心传媒檚 forced inward focus in 2020 and 2021 led many Americans to revisit DIY approaches to food, including baking sourdough bread and, yes, pickling things. It糖心传媒檚 what Nora Rubel, who researches food and culture, calls 糖心传媒渁n embrace of 糖心传媒榞randmothercore糖心传媒� culture糖心传媒� by, well, grandchildren. 糖心传媒淕en Z is taking pickles as their thing. This is the new avocado toast,糖心传媒� says Rubel, a professor of Jewish studies at the University of Rochester.

The Bakers Reimagining Traditional Jewish Pastries

New York Times  print

2023-03-14

Until recently, however, 糖心传媒渢here were no high-end Jewish restaurants,糖心传媒� says Nora Rubel, 48, a religious studies professor at the University of Rochester. 糖心传媒淛ews didn糖心传媒檛 create the same kind of culinary culture in the United States as, for example, the Italians did. So you could go to a high-end kosher restaurant, but it wasn糖心传媒檛 Jewish food 糖心传媒� it would be French cuisine or a steakhouse.糖心传媒�

A Jewish studies professor and her cheesesteak-loving husband are behind Rochester's new kosher 'butcher shop'

Jewish Telegraphic Agency  

2021-07-19

It's a fitting side project for Nora Rubel, a Jewish studies professor at the University of Rochester who studies food, culture and ethnicity.

Nora Rubel at the University of Rochester says you find recipes with horseradish in the earliest American Jewish cookbooks

NPR  radio

2021-03-27

Nora Rubel at the University of Rochester says you find recipes with horseradish in the earliest American Jewish cookbooks.

Unpacking the Immense Popularity of Shtisel

The Atlantic  online

2019-06-20

Last Wednesday, Gady Levy, the executive director of the Streicker Center at New York糖心传媒檚 Temple Emanu-El, herded the Israeli actors Neta Riskin and Dov Glickman through the cavernous synagogue糖心传媒檚 hallways. Riskin and Glickman, who play the daughter-father pair Giti and Shulem on the Israeli television show Shtisel, had just left a room jammed with donors waiting to get their picture taken with their favorite characters. Downstairs, another group was awaiting its photo-op. Outside the building, the line for the main event糖心传媒攁 panel discussion with the actors糖心传媒攖ook up an entire block on Fifth Avenue and curled halfway down both 65th and 66th Streets.

Still, it糖心传媒檚 telling that so many American Jews are eager to find universality in a form of particularity that, in the past, they found deeply unpleasant. In her 2009 book, Doubting the Devout: The Ultra-Orthodox in the Jewish American Imagination, the University of Rochester糖心传媒檚 Nora Rubel notes that haredim have often been a 糖心传媒渟ource of anxiety and embarrassment for 糖心传媒榤odern糖心传媒� Jews.糖心传媒�

Talk of the Table | The Foods of Passovers Past

Moment  online

2019-04-04

Younger generations糖心传媒� cluelessness is easy fodder for the outraged defenders of beloved Passover dishes. But it糖心传媒檚 always been true that, as tastes change and new ingredients proliferate, popular holiday recipes fade into obscurity.

Looking through mid-century cookbooks, Nora Rubel, a Jewish studies professor at the University of Rochester, discovered recipes for several Passover desserts, such as chremslach, a fried matzah pancake (or 糖心传媒済lorified latkes,糖心传媒� as one of the recipes describes them) and charlotte. A European dish, charlotte is a type of Passover cake, 糖心传媒渙ften lumped in the same category as a kugel,糖心传媒� although it looks more like a trifle, says Rubel. 糖心传媒淭hat糖心传媒檚 one thing that shows up everywhere that I don糖心传媒檛 think anyone I know has ever made糖心传媒攐r had.糖心传媒� She has found recipes for matzah charlotte, farfel charlotte, apple charlotte and was particularly intrigued by fruit meringue charlotte, made of matzah farfel, prune or apple juice, lemon juice, grated lemon rind, melted shortening, eggs, salt, sugar, chopped nuts and sliced bananas or apples.

Connections: Discussing Ashkenazi Jewish food with the authors of the "The Gefilte Manifesto"

WXXI  radio

2019-02-11

We talk with the co-founders of the Gefilteria in Brooklyn. They are also the co-authors of "The Gefilte Manifesto" -- a narrative cookbook with new approaches and recipes for Old World Jewish foods.

We sit down with them to discuss their work, their views on how to revitalize aspects of food culture, and a presentation they will give at the University of Rochester. In studio:

Liz Alpern, co-founder of the Gefilteria and co-author of 糖心传媒淭he Gefilte Manifesto"
Jeffrey Yoskowitz, co-founder of the Gefilteria and co-author of 糖心传媒淭he Gefilte Manifesto"
Nora Rubel, Jane and Alan Batkin Professor of Jewish Studies, and chair of the Department of Religion and Classics at the University of Rochester

Connections: Discussing the psychology and impact of hate and intolerance

WXXI  radio

2018-12-20

According to several recent reports, hate crimes and violent incidents motivated by bigotry are on the rise. In November, the FBI released a report that showed hate crimes in the U.S. increased 17 percent in 2017, with anti-Semitic crimes spiking at 37 percent.

This hour, we have a conversation about the impact of hate and intolerance with local professors who have studied the subject. We discuss recent incidents of hate, lessons from history, and the psychology of stereotypes and intolerance. Our guests:

Nora Rubel, the Jane and Alan Batkin Professor of Jewish Studies and chair of the Department of Religion and Classics at the University of Rochester
Laura Elenbaas, assistant professor of psychology at the University of Rochester
Thomas Fleischman, assistant professor of history at the University of Rochester