Dr Svetlana Pogodina

Jewish food traditions viewed from inside and outside in Russian-speaking communities of Latvia, Russia and Transnistria

Biography

Dr Svetlana Pogodina is Docent in the Department of Russian and Slavonic Studies at the University of Latvia, and an assistant at the Riga museum Jews in Latvia.

She participated in ethnographic expeditions to Latvia, Russia and Transnistria organized by the Moscow Center for University Teaching of Jewish Civilization “Sefer”.

Her research interests include Slavic traditional culture, urban folklore, ethnocultural stereotypes and Jewish folklore.

Abstract

The lecture will focus on Jewish food and eating traditions, spread among Russian-speaking communities in Latvia, Russia and Transnistria and the stereotypes (ethnocultural prejudices and perception) about them among their non-Jewish neighbours.

The social and cultural revolutions of the 20th century transformed the identity of the Jews from the former Pale of Settlement.

As Anna Shternshis notes, "Among other things, this transformation was marked by a weakening of the connection between Judaism and Jewish identity, including a gradual departure from traditional Jewish food practices."

Through the prism of food stories, respondents shared Jewish traditions and rituals and how they were practiced/transformed/saved in their families.

Respondents were people born in the 1920s-1970s, whose food experience happened in the Soviet era.

On the other hand, Jewish eating traditions were interpreted by their non-Jewish neighbours into ethnocultural stereotypes, comparing Jewish traditional culture with the Christian one.