This is the Out of Our Kitchen Closets cookbook, published in 1987. While not within our historical framework exactly, it was published in San Francisco by congregation Shaar Zahav, which I wrote a précis on last week detailing their response to the AIDS epidemic. Evidently, sermons were not all they do. In this article by Shira Feder (linked below), the authors of the cookbook describe how they brought food to their fellow congregants in the hospital and used food to bond together. The cookbook also caused many queer congregants who were estranged from their families to reach out, asking for recipes. When asked why a cookbook, creator Susan Unger said, “I still have a cookbook my mother got from her congregation…It’s universal, it’s about holidays and togetherness.” The history of the Jewish cookbook tied together the ongoing queer crisis and their Jewish history. The food in the book is a mix of modern and traditional, from pumpkin soup and avocado omelettes to blintzes and chopped liver. The quotes on the image above are from the article, about the ways the cookbook honored their Jewish and queer culture.

Also, weird fun fact: when discussing the history of queer culture and food, this is a paragraph from the article:

““I’m going to say this to his face: Thank you James Beard for making a fat, gay man a powerful thing!” Jewish chef Michael Twitty declared upon winning a James Beard award. James Beard himself, essentially the face of American cooking, was a gay man who had been given the boot from Reed College for kissing a male companion.“

It’s a small world after all. Nice going, Reed College! 😬

Article: https://forward.com/life/406937/during-the-aids-crisis-this-gay-jewish-cookbook-kept-a-community-together/