What’s Cooking? Jewish Culinary Culture

Table of Tradition

Table I (Tradition) refers to the omnipresence of tradition, to its continuity and duration. A surrealistic challah—supernaturally long and twisted, wrapped around the entire table, points to the spiritual and symbolic dimension of food.[see the exhibition online](https://whatscooking.art/en/table-of-tradition)

Moses receives the Law on Mount Sinai (Illustration from the manuscript of the Hebrew Bible produced in German lands, second half of the 14th c.)

[see the exhibition online](https://whatscooking.art/en/laws-of-kosher#moses-receives-the-law-on-mount-sinai)  

Jewish kitchen – preparations for Pesach. (Illustration in Jüdisches Ceremoniel (Jewish Ritual) by Paul Christian Kirchner, Nuremberg, 1734.)

[see the exhibition online](https://whatscooking.art/en/laws-of-kosher#jewish-kitchen-preparations-for-pesach)  

A set of knives for religious slaughter. Each knife is decorated with an inscription and image of an animal for whose slaughter it is to be used. Lithuania, c. 1900.

[see the exhibition online](https://whatscooking.art/en/laws-of-kosher#a-set-of-knives-for-religious-slaughter)  

The tavilat kelim ceremony (wahing of pots). Pots acquired from non-Jews are washed in this manner. On the photo rabbi Yehoshua Ellis. Poland, 2012, photo: Arkadiusz Ławrywianiec.

[see the exhibition online](https://whatscooking.art/en/kashrut-past-and-present#the-tavilat-kelim-ceremony-wahing-of-pots-t)  

A platter with a cover with Hebrew inscription of the blessing over bread

[see the exhibition online](https://whatscooking.art/en/blessings#a-platter-with-a-cover-with-hebrew-inscription-of-the-blessing-over-bread)  

Travel besamim box in the shape of a fish. Silver, enamel and gold, before 1939.

[see the exhibition online](https://whatscooking.art/en/holidays#travel-besamim-box-in-the-shape-of-a-fish)  

Matzo-making machine. The machine was found after the Second World War near Siemiatycze. Before 1939.

[see the exhibition online](https://whatscooking.art/en/holidays#matzo-making-machine)  

Shabbat, Nahum Gutman, watercolor on paper, 1950-1990.

[see the exhibition online](https://whatscooking.art/en/holidays-past-and-present#shabbat)  

Women carrying pots of cholent to a bakery. Białystok, 1932.

[see the exhibition online](https://whatscooking.art/en/holidays-past-and-present#women-carrying-pots-of-cholent-to-a-bakery)  

Table of Diaspora

Table II (Diaspora) has a cylindrical form in which colorful beans, lentils, grain, peas and spices twirl and mix. It symbolises, on one hand, the locality of Jewish cuisine in the Diaspora—its rootedness in the fruits of the earth and the climate, and on the other, its characteristic constant movement, openness and exchange.[see the exhibition online](https://whatscooking.art/en/table-of-diaspora)  

Hanukkiyah, Morocco, 18th c.

[see the exhibition online](https://whatscooking.art/en/locality-and-custom#hanukkiyah-morocco-18th-c)  

Panorama of Zamość, 17th-18th c.

[see the exhibition online](https://whatscooking.art/en/ashkenazi-cuisine#panorama-of-zamosc)  

A set of platters for serving herring. S. Ehrenreich Factory, Pruszków, 1918-1939.

[see the exhibition online](https://whatscooking.art/en/ashkenazi-flavors#a-set-of-platters-for-serving-herring-3)  

The Athens Bazaar. Drawing by Edward Dodwell, 18th/19th c.

[see the exhibition online](https://whatscooking.art/en/sephardi-and-mizrachi-cuisine#the-athens-bazaar)  

Table of Modernity

Table III (Modernity) brings to mind a metropolitan skyline dotted with skyscrapers or a café table set with fancy drinks: a dozen lamps with overflowing colored liquids are placed on a metallic table top. The metamorphoses taking place inside the lamps symbolically allude to the transformations and new interpretations of Jewish culinary culture in the modern period.[see the exhibition online](https://whatscooking.art/en/table-of-modernity)  

Students and teachers during a household management course inanced by Women’s Aid Organization. Fania Levando is standing in the middle. Vilna, 1938.

[see the exhibition online](https://whatscooking.art/en/cookbooks#students-and-teachers-during-a-household-management-course-inanced-by-womens-aid-organization)  

Cups belonging to Julian Tuwim’s family. The cups feature portraits of the poet’s grandparents. Beginning of the 20th c.

[see the exhibition online](https://whatscooking.art/en/cookbooks#cups-belonging-to-julian-tuwims-family)  

Romanisches Café, Berlin, 1925, photo: Herbert Hoffmann.

[see the exhibition online](https://whatscooking.art/en/new-situations#romanisches-cafe-1)  

Members of the He-Halutz Zionist organisation having a meal break from working in the field, Grodno, 1920.

[see the exhibition online](https://whatscooking.art/en/new-situations#members-of-the-he-halutz-zionist-organisation-having-a-meal-break-from-working-in-the-field)  

M. Bloom's Delicatessen, Bronx, New York, 1910.

[see the exhibition online](https://whatscooking.art/en/migrating-flavors#m-blooms-delicatessen)  

Yankee's Kosher Meals on Wheels, Los Angeles, 1984.

[see the exhibition online](https://whatscooking.art/en/migrating-flavors#yankees-kosher-meals-on-wheels-1)  

Ariel Restaurant, Kazmierz in Krakow, 2019.

[see the exhibition online](https://whatscooking.art/en/poland-today#ariel-restaurant)  

New immigrants carrying products for breakfast, Bet Olim Ahuza, Haifa, 1949

[see the exhibition online](https://whatscooking.art/en/israeli-cuisine#new-immigrants-carrying-products-for-breakfast)  

Table of Memories

Table IV (Memories) is dedicated to the reminiscences and memory; it has many legs and each one is different. Indeed, it is actually many tables, many individual stories. This multiplicity is also symbolised by the pile of tablecloths on the table—ironed, neatly folded and faded, each tablecloth carries a story from the past that we will never know in its entirety.  On old tablecloths, with distant stories no longer available to our memory, are arranged newer and newer, up to completely unused, still "unscribed".  [see the exhibition online](https://whatscooking.art/en/table-of-memories)  

The United Bakers Restaurant on Spadina Avenue. From right: Sara and Aaron Ladovsky – immigrants from Kielce who established the restaurant a bakery in 1912. Toronto, 1920.

[see the exhibition online](https://whatscooking.art/en/personal-stories#the-united-bakers-restaurant-on-spadina-avenue-1)  

Pot made from airplaine aluminium

[see the exhibition online](https://whatscooking.art/en/memorabilia#pot-made-from-airplaine-aluminium)