All Consuming: Germans, Jews, and the Meaning of Meat

John M. Efron

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All Consuming

Germans, Jews, and the Meaning of Meat

John M. Efron

Language: English

Published/Copyright: 2025

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About this book

An engaging 700-year history of meat at the intersection of German and Jewish culture, uniquely illuminating the rich, fraught, and tragic history of German Jewry.

In Judaism, meat is of paramount importance as it constitutes the very focal point of the dietary laws. With an intricate set of codified regulations concerning forbidden and permissible meats, highly prescribed methods of killing, and elaborate rules governing consumption, meat is one of the most visible, and gustatory, markers of Jewish distinctness and social separation. It is an object of tangible, touchable, and tastable difference like no other.

In All Consuming, historian John M. Efron focuses on the contested culture of meat and its role in the formation of ethnic identities in Germany. To an extent not seen elsewhere in Europe, Germans have identified, thought about, studied, decried, and gladly eaten meat understood to be "Jewish." Expressions of this engagement are found across the cultural landscape—in literature, sculpture, and visual arts—and are evident in legal codes and commercial enterprises. Likewise, Jews in Germany have vigorously defended their meats and the culture and rituals surrounding them by educating Germans and Jews alike about their meaning and relevance.

Exploring a cultural history that extends some seven hundred years, from the Middle Ages to today, Efron goes beyond a discussion of dietary laws and ritual slaughter to take a broad view of what meat can tell us about German-Jewish identity and culinary culture, Jewish and Christian religious sensibilities, and religious freedom for minorities in Germany. In so doing, he provides a singular window into the rich, fraught, and ultimately tragic history of German Jewry.

Author / Editor information

John M. Efron is Koret Professor of Jewish History at the University of California, Berkeley. He is the author of German Jewry and the Allure of the Sephardic (2016) and The Jews: A History, now in its third edition (2019), among other books.

Reviews

"All Consuming is an impressive, scholarly work that uses meat to discuss Jewish culture and the Jewish place in the German Christian world. The work features a great amount of detail, but, since Efron keeps scholarly jargon to a minimum, the work is understandable even by the non-specialist. Anyone interested in food studies will definitely want to add this work to their shelves." —Rabbi Rachel Esserman, The Reporter --- "As Efron documents in this incredibly detailed book, because meat is so elemental to European cuisine, and because, for Jews, its preparation is a ritually complex process, meat ended up at the epicenter of interactions between Jews and Christians in Germany throughout the ages." —Meir Y. Soloveichik, The Washington Free Beacon --- "John Efron's erudite and beautifully written All Consuming offers a startlingly original way to convey the entangled relations between Christians and Jews in modern Germany. An important read for anyone interested in Jewish, German, or food history." —Derek Penslar, author of Zionism: An Emotional State --- "Anyone interested in food and identity will learn much from All Consuming. John Efron offers an absorbing, finely researched book, charting the unexpected twists and turns in understanding of Jewishness and meat in Germany over the past half millennium." —Rachel Laudan, author of Cuisine and Empire: Cooking in World History --- "In this masterfully written book, readers will find a new key to the modern Jewish experience. More than a food history, All Consuming reveals the everyday lives of German Jews, what kept them apart from their Christian neighbors—and what bound them together. Eminent historian John Efron tells the story of German Jews from an entirely new perspective." —Michael Brenner, author of In Hitler's Munich: Jews, the Revolution, and the Rise of Nazism --- "All Consuming goes beyond sauerbraten and sausage to detail how Germany's historic Jewish communities turned beef, rather than pork, into delicious dishes that traveled throughout Europe. John Efron makes meat a fascinating lens through which to view culture, history, and gastronomy. Bravo." —Joan Nathan, author of King Solomon's Table: A Culinary Exploration of Jewish Cooking from Around the World

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Frontmatter
i

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Contents
v

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Acknowledgments
vii

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Introduction
1
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ONE The Jewish Butcher’s Tale
19
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TWO From Tabernacle to Table
61
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THREE A Cut Below the Rest?
114
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FOUR Food for Thought
157
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FIVE Pigs and the World Jewish Conspiracy
206
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Conclusion
263
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Notes
281
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Bibliography
329
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Index
363

Publishing information

Pages and Images/Illustrations in book

eBook published on:

April 4, 2025

eBook ISBN:

9781503642713

Pages and Images/Illustrations in book

Main content:

400

https://doi.org/10.1515/9781503642713

eBook ISBN: 9781503642713

Keywords for this book

Meat; Kosher; treyf; antisemitism; pork; pigs; Nazi Germany; Kosher cookbooks; Judensau

Audience(s) for this book

For an expert adult audience, including professional development and academic research

All Consuming

Overview

About this book

Author / Editor information

Reviews

Topics

Table of contents

Frontmatter

Contents

Acknowledgments

Introduction

ONE The Jewish Butcher’s Tale

TWO From Tabernacle to Table

THREE A Cut Below the Rest?

FOUR Food for Thought

FIVE Pigs and the World Jewish Conspiracy

Conclusion

Notes

Bibliography

Index

Bibliographic data