“Fulfillment of a collective dream”: Culinary pilgrimage to Russian–Jewish New York

Abstract

Since the early 1990s a new wave of Jewish immigration from the former Soviet Union has dramatically reshaped the gastronomic landscapes of many New York neighborhoods, most notably Brighton Beach, Rego Park, Washington Heights, Flatbush and Ocean Parkway. A new culinary infrastructure has emerged to support the culinary preferences and practices of these communities in homes, restaurants, bars, coffee shops, nightclubs and catering halls. Alongside this new culinary infrastructure, a new culinary practice, that of culinary pilgrimage to the food worlds of Russian Jewish New York has emerged among New Yorkers and visitors to New York, many but by no means all of whom are Jewish. Culinary pilgrims visit restaurants and nightclubs, come shopping for items unavailable elsewhere, and take part in one or more of the rapidly multiplying culinary walking tours that offer what historian (and tour guide) Seth Kamil calls “micro-histories” of New York's Russian–Jewish neighborhoods. These visitors are seeking more than just a good meal. Folklorist Lucy Long has found that culinary pilgrims seek a deeper and more personal understanding of foodways that are in some way more authentic than those of their everyday lives. Within the Jewish context, the cuisines of the former Soviet Union evoke both a places and times of heightened significance. This is the case when a young Russian journalist suggests that certain restaurants can provide “the fulfillment of a collective dream”.