Ginger Is The Viagra Of The Olden Days

In our mash-up families — all families? — food is love. Food is also medicine, an expression of joy, an expression of identity, and, it turns out! A sexual booster. Joan Nathan, the world’s foremost expert on Jewish food, chats with Amy and Rebecca about herbal viagra, pho as a substitute for chicken noodle soup, and why all food is a mash-up.

Joan, Being Her Most Joan

Joan On The Authenticity Of Brisket

As Jews moved, we had to learn to use other ingredients, so the food is always transforming. Let’s take a simple dish like brisket. In Europe, nobody ate brisket. In the Middle East, they might have used lamb. There was no brisket in the sense that we have brisket now. In Eastern Europe, a meat roast was a celebratory food for a wedding, much liked corned beef was. But when Jews came to the United States, it was the land of beef, and they got huge, different cut of beef than they would have in Europe. Brisket is an American food that Jews adapted. We think of brisket as “authentic,” but it wasn’t.

Strangers In A Strange Land

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This podcast is produced by American Public Media and Southern California Public Radio, KPCC. It is supported in part by an award from the National Endowment for the Arts. To find out more about how the NEA grants impact individuals and communities, visit www.arts.gov.