Dr. Megan Elias, Associate Professor, Department of History, Queensborough Community College
Although there were a few very well-known cookbooks for Jewish families published before the Second World War in America, the post-war period saw a tremendous increase in the numbers of this genre. In particular, Jewish groups all over America published community cookbooks, usually for the purpose of fundraising. These books represent a new pride in identity which was intimately tied to the very public nature of Jewish suffering during the Holocaust. Working with the important collection of Jewish Community Cookbooks at the Dorot Division of the New York Public Library, this project seeks to put these cookbooks into the context of post-war American culture and an emerging sense of global citizenship.