The Polin Museum of the History of Polish Jews is preparing a temporary exhibition “From the kitchen. Jewish culinary culture” that is a culinary journey in time and space. It will present the diversity of traditions and dishes of Jews who lived in the Diaspora for centuries, i.e. outside the historic Land of Israel.

According to the organizers, the exhibition (scheduled on March 10) will describe Jews “from the kitchen” by showing what and why they eat, their characteristic dishes, their origin, the way they are prepared and their meaning. It will also present Jewish religion and culture in different parts of the world.

The exhibition will also tell visitors how migrating Jews transferred various foods and products, from the Middle Ages to the great waves of emigration in the 19th and 20th centuries to America or Israel.

The principles of kosher preparation of products and food will allow understanding the religious foundation that binds Jewish cuisine. Wherever the Jews lived, kosher principles were practised on the basis of the products available in the region and the traditions of neighbors from other cultures: no matter what was put in the pot, it was cooked according to similar rules.

The creators of the exhibition will also tell visitors how many Jews depart from tradition and look for their roots anew in modern and contemporary times. The exhibition will present both the specificity of Jewish cuisine and why it is so difficult to enclose it in rigid frames.

The museum is inviting guests to discover what connects potato pancakes with latkes, cabbage rolls with holishki and what cholent has in common with adafina as well as why in New York, pickles and borscht are considered Jewish dishes.

The exhibition is accompanied by four sculptures by the artist Anna Królikiewicz, being a metaphorical commentary on the story of Jewish food.

Arkadiusz Słomczyński