This lecture is open to the public.

Those planning to attend should r.s.v.p. to Carol Lockman, clockman@Hagley.org or call (302) 658-2400, ext. 243.

In his talk, Kosher USA, Dr. Roger Horowitz will follow the journey of kosher foods through the modern industrial food system. He will examine how the producers of iconic brands such as Coca-Cola and Jell-O attempted to make their products kosher and how kosher-specific products, such as Manischewitz wine, won over non-Jewish consumers (principally African Americans). Along this journey, there were contentious debates among rabbis over the incorporation of modern science into Jewish law, the techniques used by Orthodox rabbinical organizations to embed kosher requirements into food manufacturing, and continued difficulties encountered by kosher meat and other kosher foods that fell outside the American culinary consensus.

Roger Horowitz is a historian of American business, technology, and labor and an expert on the nation’s food. He has written widely about the consumption and production of meat in America. Most recently, his research has turned to kosher food, incited by powerful personal connections and intellectual curiosity. Dr. Horowitz is also the Director of the Center for the History of Business, Technology, and Society at the Hagley Museum and Library.