Jewish cookery book, on principles of economy: adapted for Jewish housekeepers, with the addition of many useful medicinal recipes, and other valuable information, relative to housekeeping and domestic management, Esther Levy – Applewood Books- 2007

I became interested in religions and food after reading and discussing about Jewish laws of food in class. So for this shelfie, I searched “Judaism and food” in the Lafayette Library Catalog. The one book that came up on my search was called “Death Warmed Over: Funeral food, Rituals, and Customs From Around the World” by Lisa Rogak. Without even reading the entire title of the book, I decided to go check it out. When I saw that it was a book on funeral related foods, I decided that I needed to find another book. The area that I was in had only cookbooks. But in the middle of that shelf section, there were about 10 books on Jewish foods and cookbooks. I picked up the smallest one out of them and was glad to find that it was not a cookbook with recipes but a book that covered Jewish food rituals and customs.

The title of this book, written by Mrs. Esther Levy, is called “Jewish Cookery Book on Principles of Economy adapted for Jewish Housekeepers with Medicinal Recipes and Other Valuable Information Relative to Housekeeping and Domestic Management and Being The First Jewish Cookbook Published in America as Published in Philadelphia, 1871.” What I liked about this book was that the title pretty much gave away the entire content of the book. I don’t think I have ever read an actual book with such a long title. The book is small in size and is 200 pages. The cover is also old fashioned with about ten different fonts and styles.

After the preface, the introduction of the book gives “some information as to the manner of strictly keeping a Jewish house.” The book then goes on to talk about the Arrangement of The Table for breakfast, luncheon, and dinner. It also gives instruction on How to Place Dishes on the Table. The rest of the book is divided into different types of food (fish, soups, meat, poultry, bread, cakes, puddings, pastry, preserves/jellies, diet for invalids/sick, medicinal, cheese/wine, pickles/vegetables, and miscellaneous) and how to prepare them and place them. The last pages of the book give advise and tip to housekeepers, Seasonable Food for Each Month of the Year, and Culinary Utensils and Articles, which should be in All Kitchens.

If I decide to write my paper on Jewish dietary laws, this book would be very helpful. It contains so much information on every topic related to Jewish dietary laws while also keeping it in simple language. Since this is an older book, it would also be pretty reliable.

Foulston, Lynn, and Abbott, Stuart. Hindu Goddesses: Beliefs and Practices. Sussex Academic Press, 2009

To start my Shelfie assignment, I went on to the Lafayette Library OneSearch and typed in “Hinduism cultures.” I picked this topic because I found it extremely interesting every time we discussed Hindu rituals, such as how they position their body parts when they pray in temples. When I went to the library to retrieve this book, I was disappointed to find out someone already checked it out. So I spent a couple of minutes going through other books in the surrounding area, hoping that one would catch my eyes. And sure enough, I found a colorful book called Hindu Goddesses: Beliefs and Practices. The cover of the book had a picture of one of the Hindu goddesses decorated in flowers, jewelries, gold, and colorful clothing. The more I skimmed through the book, the more I realized how little I knew about Hindu goddesses. They were rarely mentioned in the textbook or in class. Sure, they had a tiny section dedicated to them but it was nowhere near the length of the Hindu gods section. It is even harder to find any detailed accounts of them, like how they are worshipped or their role in society.

This book is divided into two parts with different sections discussing different parts of Hindu goddesses. Part one is on beliefs, and part two is on practices with a little introduction about “Who or what is a Hindu goddess?” at the beginning of the book. In the introduction alone, I learned that some people believe there are “330 million goddesses.” As I look further into the table of contents, I find myself recognizing some goddess names as well as phrases that I remember from the textbook and class discussions, such as “Sri-Laksmi” and “Sakti.” I also discovered four pages, double-sided colored pictures, which really grabbed my attention. These pictures are of different shrines and temples associated with the Hindu goddesses, which I find helpful in understanding how important their presence is in the Hindu cultures. Even though this book appears to be an easy and fun read on the outside, the content is pretty heavy. I could not understand the full meaning of most of the random pages I flipped. I would have to have a deeper understanding of Hinduism as a whole.

While searching for a new book after losing my first choice, I did not find that many interesting books near Hindu Goddesses: Beliefs and Practices. The books surrounding it were also about Hinduism and Religions in India but most of their cover pages lacked pictures or colors, which made it hard for me to even look at them. A few of the books that I picked up discussed Hinduism as a whole, not its different parts. The most common names were “Introduction to Hinduism.” All in all, I was very satisfied with finding this book even though I had a different book in mind to start this assignment.