Re: Songs about food in Jiddisch

[Karin <karin...>]

Shabbat Shalom to all, Robert how do I get the book/paper, WAUW btw all
about food in the Yiddish culture is welcome, I'm cuurently researching the
potato in the Jewish Kitchen, thanks, Karin

----- Original Message -----
From: "Robert A. Rothstein" <rar (at) slavic(dot)umass(dot)edu>
To: "World music from a Jewish slant" <jewish-music (at) shamash(dot)org>
Sent: Saturday, September 14, 2002 5:43 AM
Subject: Re: Songs about food in Jiddisch


> In the spirit of recent _zelbstreklame_ on the list, I would mention the
> following publication:
>
>      Robert A. Rothstein and Halina Rothstein, "Food in Yiddish and
> Slavic Folk Culture: a Comparative/Contrastive View,"
>      in _Yiddish Language and Culture Then and Now_, ed. Leonard Jay
> Greenspoon (Omaha: Creighton University Press,
>      1998), pp. 305-28.
>
> The paper mentions, among other things, two songs sung by Aaron
> Lebedeff.  One is his parody of a folk song about a cantor coming to
> lead sabbath services in a small town ("A khazn oyf shabes"). In the
> original version three local citizens (a tailor, a
> blacksmith, and a coachman) comment on his singing; each uses images
> from his own profession.  In Lebedeff's parody ("A
> khazndl in Amerike") the commentators are three restaurateurs: "a
> litvak," "a galitsianer" and "an amerikanerl."  In addition to the
> linguistic differences (e.g., "oy vey" for the Litvak vs. "ay vay" for
> the Galitsianer and "my God, gee whiz, holy Moses" for the American),
> Lebedeff makes use of food preferences, e.g., black bread with radishes
> and herring with potatoes for the Litvak, barley soup with a marrow bone
> for the Galitsianer, and for the American--ham and eggs and chop suey
> with chow mein.
>
> The second is "Rumenye," in which reminiscences of Romania are presented
> almost exclusively in terms of food (and wine):
> "a mameligele," "a pastramele," "a karnatsele," "kashtaval" and
> "brinze."
>
> Also mentioned is a popular song by Adolf King, "Oy, iz dos a rebetsn"
> (also known as "Sha, sha, der rebe geyt") in which the rabbi's wife is
> compared to "a purim-koyletsh," "a lokshn-kigele" and "a milkhedike
> blintsele."
>
>         Bob Rothstein
>
>
>
>
>



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