Culture Corner: Jewish Food and Connections

By Maddy Yasner
University of Pennsylvania

From the time I started looking at colleges, kosher food has always been a selling point. If it didn't have kosher food, it was taken off my list. So I found myself a school with a kosher dining hall, and when I was looking at my study abroad options, I wanted to be sure I could at least find a place for seder. It turned out that each time I traveled, I found a lot more than just food. With each new destination came the usual search for kosher food, and with Jews, food means company.

My story starts with a swing dance convention in Connecticut over a year ago. On a whim, I decided to e-mail a local Conservative rabbi to see if he could set me up with a family for Shabbat dinner while I was in the area. I figured that since I was planning to go abroad in the spring, this would be good practice for one of the main things I intended to do while abroad: get in touch with local Jewish community members and invite myself over for dinners.

I was lucky enough to be hosted by a lovely older couple and, needless to say, dinner was fabulous, especially compared to the take-out Chinese that my friends at the convention were sharing. The couple had invited friends of theirs as well, and we started talking about my plans to travel to Melbourne, Australia for the coming semester. It just so happened that these guests had cousins in Melbourne and were certain they'd welcome me into their home if I gave them a call once I arrived. The husband actually took the time to write out all of his cousins' contact information for me and even e-mailed his cousins after the fact to let them know I was coming. That one Shabbat meal in Connecticut set off of a whirlwind of Jewish connections for me during my time abroad.

I got in touch with the Melbourne cousins after my first week in Australia and they had me over for Shabbat the very same week. More delicious food and fabulous company followed as well. I was pretty excited about how well things were going with my cold-call Shabbat invitations. Who knew that people would be so willing to have a random traveler over for dinner? I went to synagogue with them the next morning and was introduced to another new person, the only girl my age who regularly attends their small minyan. We talked during Kiddush and I explained how I was having trouble figuring out what was kosher in the supermarkets, since in Australia nothing's actually marked kosher on the packages. She told me about a booklet published annually that lists everything in the country, literally, that's certified kosher. Since it'd be hard for me to get a copy of the book myself, she offered to take me to the supermarket and use her mother's book to show me what I could buy. The next day she brought a friend along, and I brought my roommate, and the four of us toured the supermarket and stocked up on some much-needed essentials. I was learning very quickly how valuable it was to connect with the community around me and I was gaining good friends in the process.

I spent every Shabbat of the semester in the homes of active Jewish community members, and they became some of my closest friends. That includes everyone from the Israeli shlihim (emissaries) to the rabbi and the synagogue president, and the executive director too. They all opened their homes to me, one after another, and made me feel welcome in what could have been a strange and lonely place. I even made a point of scheduling my trip to New Zealand in such a way that I'd end up at the Chabad of Christchurch in time for Shabbat. I was there surrounded by probably one hundred post-army Israeli travelers, but knowing that I could find myself surrounded by hallah, hummus and fellow Jews, even on the other side of the world, made them all seem much more like family than strangers. With each new adventure came the search for kosher food and with every meal came new faces.

When my family came to visit me over Pesah, we were invited to dinner by the same family that welcomed me my second week there – the cousins of the couple I met at someone else's dinner table in Connecticut. By then, though, they were more to me than just the result of coincidence. They were part of the fabric of my experience abroad and had become very dear friends. I was so proud to finally introduce my parents to some of the people who had helped make the Melbourne Jewish community my own community.

This fall, when I went back to the swing dance convention again, I got in touch with the couple who had hosted me last year and asked whether they might be available a second time. I was so thankful that they were, so that I could complete what had been a wonderful circle of generous and genuinely kind Jews all over the world. Thanks to that one meal a year before, I had the confidence and connections to start a semester-long journey on the other side of the world, which was filled with strong Jewish connections and a great sense of belonging. Although I've returned from that journey, I know that many more await me. With them are sure to be more delicious meals and certainly more new friends.

Maddy Yasner is a senior at the University of Pennsylvania studying Digital Media Design with the hopes of working in film production after graduation. She served as gabbai of Penn's Conservative Jewish Community as well as co-chair of the KOACH Kallah in 2007.

[Posted 1/25/09]