Hungering for America: Italian, Irish, and Jewish Foodways in the Age of Migration

by Diner

Millions of immigrants were drawn to American shores, not by the mythic streets paved with gold, but rather by its tables heaped with food. How they experienced the realities of America’s abundant food―its meat and white bread, its butter and cheese, fruits and vegetables, coffee and beer―reflected their earlier deprivations and shaped their ethnic practices in the new land.

Hungering for America tells the stories of three distinctive groups and their unique culinary dramas. Italian immigrants transformed the food of their upper classes and of sacred days into a generic “Italian” food that inspired community pride and cohesion. Irish immigrants, in contrast, loath to mimic the foodways of the Protestant British elite, diminished food as a marker of ethnicity. And East European Jews, who venerated food as the vital center around which family and religious practice gathered, found that dietary restrictions jarred with America’s boundless choices.

These tales, of immigrants in their old worlds and in the new, demonstrate the role of hunger in driving migration and the significance of food in cementing ethnic identity and community. Hasia Diner confirms the well-worn adage, “Tell me what you eat and I will tell you what you are.”

Genres: History, Food, Nonfiction, Food History, Jewish, School, Food and Drink

320 pages, Paperback

First published November 30, 1991

Reviews

[Ngaire · Rating 5 out of 5]

So good. I particularly liked the chapter on Italian immigrants, although it made me really hungry. Imagine having to depend on some local lord to dish out olive oil a few times a year. I guess I had an image of Italians as big hearted, giving people (way to stereotype, Ngaire), and was a bit shocked that the nobility and landowners were a bunch of mean, stingy, misers who didn't care if their poorer neighbors existed primarily on bread and water. No wonder so many people left Italy and emigrated to America (and Australia, too, I believe). Things were still pretty tough, but at least you didn't have to grovel for some spaghetti.

The chapters on the Irish made me sad. To have the potato forced on you by your political overlords and colonial masters, and then for it to periodically fail because of blight. How awful. At least when Irish people fled to America, they could finally discover some other foods, even if they didn't really incorporate them into their identities as Irish. It made my blood boil that some Americans were so dismissive and rude about the Irish and make fun of the fact that Irish women couldn't cook (of course they couldn't cook - all they had were potatoes. Either that or they were literally starving!). What a pack of bastards - I guess the tables have really turned there, since I've met several people in the US who couldn't boil an egg if they were paid to, and I saw mostly good food in Ireland during the three weeks I spent there a few years ago.

The chapters on Jewish immigrants were fascinating too. I had no idea that kashrut played such a powerful role in Jewish communities in Eastern Europe - that it was sanctioned by the state. Things got a lot looser when people came to the US, which had no interest in enforcing kashrut. Of course, this led to conflict in communities and families, as some wanted to keep to the old ways, and others were happy to try American foods. So much good food, though. Another chapter that totally made my mouth water. I really need to find a recipe for kugel that doesn't contain wheat flour, because this book made me hanker for it.

[Stephanie · Rating 3 out of 5]

For a "scholarly" book, this was an enjoyable read. Dr. Diner's concept of negotiation between the availability of food in the old country and in nineteenth century America was fascinating. The comparisons between Italian and Irish immigrant "foodways" also proved interesting. I'd definitely recommend this if you are studying American history, the history of food, immigration or culture.

[Jessica · Rating 5 out of 5]

Hasia Diner's book is a great overview of the immigration experiences and foodways formulations of three key immigrant groups in the late 19th century--Italians, Irish, and Jewish immigrants. She dedicates two chapters to each group, noting how the particular histories of their homelands shaped their appetite for America (as a place of variety, a place of abundance, a place of access and choice) and how those expectations became structured systems of provisioning once they arrived. (In many ways this is a key argument and structure that I plan to use in my own work). I was especially intrigued by how both the Italian and Irish experiences were rooted in the particular hierarchies that limited access and choice within farming and self-sustenance—whether the contadini of Italy knew of the elite foodways, they could not access it freely without working through the pseudo-sharecropper structures of the feudal land management system. Similarly, a neglected point key to understanding the Irish Potato famine is the concurrent success of those crops cultivated for English use, relegating Irish diets to the potato while others benefitted from abundant grain and cattle supplies. That these two forces then shape subsequent attitudes about food—Italian-Americans making their foods highlight meat and pasta, two things hard for the poor to access back home, and Irish neglecting to formulate a proud Irish culinary tradition in the U.S. because of the residual trauma around food and hunger—helps us to understand how immigrant foodways have to be historicized in the stories of homeland as well as in the new destination. The two chapters on Jewish foodways are slightly more predictable in that they cover territory I know well (Eastern European culinary hybridity yet also class resentment over better supplies for wealthier Jews, and anxieties over kashrut and assimilation in the United States). Nevertheless, they provide valuable citations from across historical and literary texts, and in particular Diner does a great job mining folklore and informal cultural expressions (songs, community tall tales, etc.) for food meanings and knowledge. The one thing I wish she’d dedicated more time to is how these immigrant cuisines were received on racial terms—she briefly talks about how Irish immigrants readily adopted “American” ways of eating (Yankee cuisine) as their own because they wished to avoid their own food traditions. Yet what were the stakes of embracing whiteness and Americanness for immigrant groups that, in the late 19th/early 20th c., were still frequently branded as “other?” A subject for greater exploration in other texts, perhaps, but one note that only emerges here in the occasional mention of nutrition.

[Bonnie · Rating 3 out of 5]

The main thesis of the author seems to be that people emigrated to the United States for the food. While that may be a contributing factor I would hope there are more reasons. In the case of Jews fleeing Pogroms, especially, I don’t believe food was more important than not getting killed or sent to serve in the Tsar’s army.
And the author’s take on Irish culinary history is just sad. According to the author, there is NO culinary history in Ireland only potatoes eaten whenever one is hungry and drink.
Even the Italians are said to have a rich culinary history, but just not enough food so people left and came to the United States.
Interesting read…but.

[Alec · Rating 3 out of 5]

An enjoyable look into the history of how various ethnic foodways were modified (or invented) as their practitioners immigrated to the United States. A fascinating look at the way our thoughts about the world of food are informed by a unique blend of truth and myth. Some of the chapters could have used a stronger internal organization though.

Strong recommendation for anyone interested in food history, or Irish/Jewish/Italian history.

[Linda · Rating 4 out of 5]

I bought this at the Lower East Side Tenement museum in NYC and just got around to reading it. For a scholarly work, it was very readable. Although I knew a little about the subject (specifically that poor Italians never ate as well in Italy as what they created as Italian food in America), it was an interesting detailing of three of the major immigrant groups and their food.

[Abby Morris · Rating 4 out of 5]

read this book for my research paper, skimmed the whole thing and read the chapters on jewish food ways for my understand of Eastern European culture in American cuisine

[Deborah Mattes · Rating 3 out of 5]

The book was easy to read however I felt like it was written more like a college thesis than a book for general reading. There was quite a bit of repetition of main points. However I did learn some new and interesting facts, particularly about the immigrant groups before arriving in America. I thought there would be more information about the influence of these three groups upon one another as well.

[Emily · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is an amazing book on the foodways of three different ethnic groups (Italian, Irish, and Jewish emigrants) and how they sustain and evolve their food traditions after emigrating to the United States in the 19th Century. I had actually read the Italian chapters in undergrad, but loved reading the entire book from a current grad class: Culture & Cuisine: New England. Definitely recommend.

[David Weinfeld · Rating 5 out of 5]

An excellent comparative history of immigration through the lens of food. Enjoyable and informative.

[Ben Lariccia · Rating 4 out of 5]

I gained new insights thanks to this extremely well documented investigation.

[Marc · Rating 5 out of 5]

The food histories on Italians, Irish and Jews were engrossing and something I refer to regularly; a fantastic read