Food History

Today is Good Friday for Christians and Purim for Jews. This is an unusual juxtaposition. The Jewish leap year is partly to blame – it means that all Jewish festivals are a bit later than usual. The moon cycles are also the blame: Easter is early this year.

What it means in terms of food traditions is that some members of the community have a fast day and some have a feast day. It’s traditional for Ashkenazi Jews, for instance, to give two different types of food to friends (which is why I’ve invited friends over tonight to celebrate – much easier than making baskets and explaining them, especially given that my family tradition didn’t include the basket-giving), to eat particular types of pastries, to read the Book of Esther, to get drunk. Every year I announce to my non-Jewish friends that I have a religious obligation to get drunk, and every year I get appropriate reactions. There aren’t that many Jews in Australia, you see, and so there’s always someone who doesn’t have a clue about my festivals.

Tonight we’re drinking my medlar liqueur, of course, but also soft drinks and cordials and maybe wine. The foodways truth of my religious festivals is that I don’t really enjoy getting drunk and nor do any of my family. We always drank enough to ensure we were celebrating and happy, but we never became more than slightly tipsy. Foodways meet religious obligation and most of the time foodways wins. This is because, as hostess, I never have enough time to sit down and debate the issue, nor even enough time to drink more than a glass. I love the thought of being drunk on Purim, but it’s only happened twice in forty-six years.

One day I must ask a rabbi if letting my family custom and interest in enjoying drink intervene in the mitzvah of getting drunk is a problem. That last sentence was a problem, but I rather suspect that the medlar liqueur (four types thereof) will suffice, religiously, even if I only have three sips of each kind.

Foodways and religion are not always a combination made in heaven. I really need to think this out a bit.