A Karaite taste

feminity, food and religion

Abstract

The paper examines immigrant women's reflections on their daily tasks as a tool for integrating into Israeli society. Based on theories of foodways and gendered views of cooking, it shows how structurally weak Karaite-Jewish immigrant women define a social place for themselves and their community. In Israel, the Karaite women face a complex situation in which their Rabbinical (the Karaite name for non-Karaite Jews) neighbors criticize them as not Jewish enough and question their belonging to the Israeli nation, while at the same time coexisting beside them. The Karaite women express their reactions to the Rabbanites, their wish to preserve their customs and religion, and their desire for acceptance via a discussion of their cooking and feeding. This discourse reveals use of cooking to comment on religious and social positioning. The Karaite women present a connection between their foods, Karaism and Judaism, portraying their domestic skills and Jewishness as superior to those of Rabbinical women. This discourse is a means of expressing social claims, coping with exclusion and presenting their individual, family and communal identity.