An academic lunchtime lecture with Dafna Hirsch on My Hummus is Bigger Than Your Hummus: Food and Politics in Israel

513 Fayerweather Hall at Columbia University.

For more details, email aml2271@columbia.edu. RSVPs are appreciated, as a kosher lunch will be served.

 

Abstract: How has the Arab dish of hummus become a (Jewish) Israeli passion? And how should we think of the relationship between the field of politics and practices of food consumption? While the Israeli appropriation of hummus appears like a clear case of "culinary colonialism," I argue that although the culinary field is not detached from politics, consumption and signification patterns do not simply reflect political relations. Rather, they are shaped by the articulation of several power structures, the relationship between Jews and Arabs being only one of them. This lecture will emphasize the role of various agents and cultural intermediaries in promoting both consumption and signification patterns of hummus, one of the most important among them being the food industry.