Foreigners and Their Food - by David M Freidenreich (Paperback)

About the Book

Foreigners and Their Food explores how Jews, Christians, and Muslims conceptualize "us" and "them" through rules about the preparation of food by adherents of other religions and the act of eating with such outsiders. David M. Freidenreich analyzes the significance of food to religious formation, elucidating the ways ancient and medieval scholars use food restrictions to think about the "other." Freidenreich illuminates the subtly different ways Jews, Christians, and Muslims perceive themselves, and he demonstrates how these distinctive self-conceptions shape ideas about religious foreigners and communal boundaries. This work, the first to analyze change over time across the legal literatures of Judaism, Christianity, and Islam, makes pathbreaking contributions to the history of interreligious intolerance and to the comparative study of religion.

Book Synopsis

Foreigners and Their Food explores how Jews, Christians, and Muslims conceptualize "us" and "them" through rules about the preparation of food by adherents of other religions and the act of eating with such outsiders. David M. Freidenreich analyzes the significance of food to religious formation, elucidating the ways ancient and medieval scholars use food restrictions to think about the "other." Freidenreich illuminates the subtly different ways Jews, Christians, and Muslims perceive themselves, and he demonstrates how these distinctive self-conceptions shape ideas about religious foreigners and communal boundaries. This work, the first to analyze change over time across the legal literatures of Judaism, Christianity, and Islam, makes pathbreaking contributions to the history of interreligious intolerance and to the comparative study of religion.

From the Back Cover

"Written in lucid prose, Freidenreich displays a masterful command of a variety of sources and scholarship. He enviably manages an arduous task: to write an accessible book that is, at the same time, a major contribution to several academic disciplines." --Jordan D. Rosenblum, author of Food and Identity in Early Rabbinic Judaism

"Can a Muslim eat meat from a Christian butcher? Can a Jew drink wine that has been handled by a Christian? Breaking through disciplinary, linguistic, and religious boundaries that often dominate scholarship, David Freidenreich offers a fascinating synthesis of these and countless other issues. This is a rich feast." --John Tolan, author of Saint Francis and the Sultan: The Curious History of a Christian-Muslim Encounter

Review Quotes

"[Freidenreich] coveys a meaningful message to all communitites that through dietary laws and restrictions we imagine ourselves and foreigners as others."--Mehnaz M. Afridi "Journal of American Academy of Religion" (7/1/2013 12:00:00 AM)

"A very fine study. . . . Freidenreich's book . . . is an important contribution that will prove valuable. . . . A fascinating and useful examination."--Irven M. Resnick "H-Net Reviews" (5/9/2012 12:00:00 AM)

"His insights into how food helps define our identities is fascinating . . . It's impossible to do justice to Freidenreich's explanations."--Rabbi Rachel Esserman "The Reporter Group" (12/23/2012 12:00:00 AM)

"The summary given [in my review] cannot capture the level of detail and nuance Freidenreich includes in this meticulously researched study... a creative, illuminating, and richly textured history."--Thomas Devaney "Speculum" (7/1/2015 12:00:00 AM)

About the Author

David M. Freidenreich is the Pulver Family Associate Professor of Jewish Studies at Colby College.