5/20/2018 JWeekly | Gourmet Ghettos at Magnes Explores Diverse Culinary Cultures, by Carly Nairn - 9.11.2014

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Thursday, September 11, 2014 | return to: arts

Gourmet Ghettos at Magnes exploresdiverse culinary culturesby carly nairn , j. correspondent

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Long before 1971, when Alice Waters opened Chez Panisse onShattuck Avenue, or even 1966, when Alfred Peet openedhis firstcoffee shop in the North Berkeley neighborhood, gourmet ghettos

existed throughout the world. Just as Sauls, the lone Jewish delion Shattuck, gives more than lip service to the California palate,the gourmet ghettos of Europe, Asia and North Africa wereinfluenced by the customs, cuisines and agriculture of theirsurroundings. The result is an incredible diversity from thekreplach andcabbage soup of Eastern Europe to the couscousand chickpeamlanges of theMediterranean.

Berkeleys MagnesCollection of Jewish Artand Life reflects thatdiversity in GourmetGhettos: Modern FoodRituals, a 150-piececollection of food-relatedJudaica from throughout the world. Presented inconjunction with U.C. Berkeleys Center forJewish Studies and the Berkeley Institute for

Jewish Law and Israel Studies, the exhibitexplores eating, identity and activism in Jewishlife and beyond, according to the Magnesprogram. It runs through Dec. 19. An openingnight party took place earlier this week.

The centerpiece of the exhibit is the ritualtable, set for a seder. In addition to the sederplate, it includes an assortment of plates,glasses, cookware and tools used for preparing

food. Large pillows are placed to one side, encouraging participants to recline during the festivities.Engraved silver and colorful porcelain give the hosts an opportunity to display their wealth.

Other notable pieces in the collection include a brightly polished silver Havdallah cup and plate setmade by a silversmith factory in Berlin that was shut down by the Nazis in the 1930s and images ofOrthodox entrepreneurs in their food-related workplaces by Oakland photographer Yves Mozelsio. Also,mid-century Israeli posters display the culinary wealth of Zion, promoting the nations production ofcitrus, avocados, dates and watermelon.

The title of the exhibition, like that of the Berkeley neighborhood, is a pun, says Magnes curatorFrancesco Spagnolo. A play with culture and history. A hybrid, two notions that dont necessarily gotogether but somehow work.

The first ghetto, instituted in 1516 Venice, wasan area where Jews were compelled to live. Overthe years, the word came to be synonymous withdowntrodden neighborhoods marked bysegregation, classism and anti-Semitism.

However, the word is now undergoing a completerebranding by foodies who enjoy high-end,usually locally sourced, restaurants in a compactspace within a particular neighborhood.

That said, Jewish food culture and the moderngourmet ghetto find commonality in several

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ideas, according to exhibit co-curator IndiaMandelkern: An awareness of where food comesfrom and a push for quality control are aspectsshared by both communities.

What is interesting about this exhibition is that itlooks at a lot of those relationships, Mandelkernsays. This is not something that just came out ofa reaction in the past fifty, sixty years, but it issomething that is very engrained in humanculture. We all cook. Its something that connectsus as a culture and creates an identity.

If rituals are the core of Jewish life, according to

Spagnolo, then the act of dining is the mantle.Its a layer that couldnt exist without its center.It can be messy, arduous to comprehend, butincredibly deep and magnetic. The exhibit isintended to exemplify that relationship, accordingto Spagnolo.

It is meant for us to address culture, he says.Primarily, culture is understood through text,Spagnolo explains, yet to explore culture andidentity through materials opens avenues togreater understanding and appreciation.

At times, it can be a daunting task, as Jewish food rituals include complex systems of rules that changewith time and place. Spagnolo illustrates the point with a joke. Coming from an Italian community ofboth Ashkenazi and Sephardic Jews, he quips, If someone were to eat a fish, it would be argued it waskosher if it was caught on one bank, but it wasnt on the other.

Spagnolo said the Gourmet Ghettos exhibit offers just a glimpse of the vast array of Jewish art thatcould be interpreted as food-related. The entire collection at the Magnes exceeds 15,000 pieces, manydonated by Bay Area residents. Its one of the largest collections in the world that is solely dedicated toJewish art.

By leveraging the global mind of the U.C. Berkeley campus, framed specifically at food rituals inbroader context, he says, we hope that it will engage all communities, whether they be religious, foodor historian.

Gourmet Ghettos: Modern Food Rituals11 a.m.-4 p.m. Tuesday-Friday, through Dec. 19,Magnes Collection of Art and Jewish Life, 2121 Allston Way, Berkeley. Free, http://www.magnes.org

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