Habaneros and shwarma: Jewish Mexicans in Israel as a transnational community

Abstract

Food is the cultural expression of society food as a marker of class, ethnic, and religious identity. What happens when the location changes? Does food continue to play such an important role or do other cultural nodes take over? Do layers of traditions, adaptation and cultural blends emerge? This seems to be the case with third and fourth generation Mexican Jews who have moved to Israel. Not only have they brought their spiritual and cultural connections from Mexico, their birth country; they have also brought the food experiences of their great-grandparents and grandparents who were they themselves immigrants. Jewish Mexicans have transplanted their sense of community to Israel and in doing so they have also brought overlooked cultural interactions and unique food experiences. Are these simply by-products of religious and migration patterns? Or are there other elements that have affected this cultural hybridity?

Religious food guidance

“…Having access to these spices, flours, rices, meats, and fishes now requires a well-honed global food chain, including the ongoing availability of these products. There are countless stories of people travelling with suitcases full of products from their homelands to recreate traditional dishes in their new host context (Sutton, 2001;Brown, 2017;Kershenovich Schuster, 2015).…”