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Yemeni Jewish immigrants brought a diverse set of foods and food practices with them as they moved to Palestine and later Israel. They preserved many of these, both to remain linked to Yemen, and to assert ethnic distinctiveness in Israel. Migration, however, always provokes changes in foodways. Immigrants encounter new comestibles and cooking techniques, and their traditional ingredients may be inaccessible or expensive. Moreover, migration changes the way people think about their identities and their food cultures. Professor Ari Ariel will examine how Yemeni Jews reimagined their foodways, in the process creating a new Yemeni ethnic identity, and how they used foods to resist assimilation, while working to integrate into Israeli society.

Ari Ariel, Ph.D., is Director of International Studies at the University of Iowa and an Associate Professor of Instruction in International Studies and History.