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Books > Religion & Spirituality > Myths & mythology
The Angel and the Cholent: Food Representation from the Israel
Folktale Archives by Idit Pintel-Ginsberg, translated into English
for the first time from Hebrew, analyzes how food and foodways are
the major agents generating the plots of several significant
folktales. The tales were chosen from the Israel Folktales
Archives' (IFA) extensive collection of twenty-five thousand tales.
In looking at the subject of food through the lens of the folktale,
we are invited to consider these tales both as a reflection of
society and as an art form that discloses hidden hopes and often
subversive meanings. The Angel and the Cholent presents thirty
folktales from seventeen different ethnicities and is divided into
five chapters. Chapter 1 considers food and taste-tales included
here focus on the pleasure derived by food consumption and its
reasonable limits. The tales in Chapter 2 are concerned with food
and gender, highlighting the various and intricate ways food is
used to emphasize gender functions in society, the struggle between
the sexes, and the love and lust demonstrated through food
preparations and its consumption. Chapter 3 examines food and class
with tales that reflect on how sharing food to support those in
need is a universal social act considered a ""mitzvah"" (a Jewish
religious obligation), but it can also become an unspoken burden
for the providers. Chapter 4 deals with food and kashrut-the tales
included in this chapter expose the various challenges of ""keeping
kosher,"" mainly the heavy financial burden it causes and the
social price paid by the inability of sharing meals with non-Jews.
Finally, Chapter 5 explores food and sacred time, with tales that
convey the tension and stress caused by finding and cooking
specific foods required for holiday feasts, the Shabbat and other
sacred times. The tales themselves can be appreciated for their
literary quality, humor, and profound wisdom. Readers, scholars,
and students interested in folkloristic and anthropological foodway
studies or Jewish cultural studies will delight in these tales and
find the editorial commentary illuminating.
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