Religion and Taste: Wine and other “Spirits” in Judaism
Religion and Taste: Wine and other “Spirits” in Judaism By Genesis Lantigua Diaz Why is wine so important to Jewish ceremonial practices? Introduction Jonathan Brumberg-Kraus and Betsey Dexter Dyer’s Cultures and Cultures: Fermented Foods as Culinary ‘Shibboleths’ introduces the importance of fermented foods in Judaism and their symbolic relevance to Jewish culture. According to the authors, these fermented foods such as wines, breads, cheeses etc are what is described as ‘shibboleths’. Shibboleths are items that distinguish one culture from another- it originally was used in the book of Judges to identify different tribes based on pronunciation skills. The word is believed to have been unpronounceable to some groups which was an easy identifier of “the other” culture. Since then, the word shibboleth is used to indicate anything that draws a line between cultures, although its original definition is an ear of corn according to the Oxford online dictionary. Fermented ...