What I love most about travelling is discovering, simultaneously, the uniqueness of every location — and the universality.
I’ve travelled primarily in Europe so that may be part of the reason why. National boundaries are a relatively new creation. Kingdoms and empires with ever changing boundaries dominate most of European history, and each of them brought their influence to whatever territory they acquired.
Take a place like Riga, Latvia. Today, it is one of the independent Baltic states. But it’s been under Polish-Lithuanian, German, Russian and Soviet control at various points.
When I was last in Riga, I met a shul goer in his ‘90s who was so excited to talk with my husband, for this nonagenarian had been raised “German.” However, Latvia falling out of Germany’s sphere of influence saved this man’s life. When WW II broke out, he, like many Baltic Jews, escaped the Nazi death camps by joining the Soviet Army.
But getting back to commonalities, it’s not unusual to see the same kind of late medieval architecture in Riga that one would see in Lübeck or other German Baltic cities.
Food is another area where these two opposing qualities — uniqueness and universality — are manifest. While certain dishes (or alcoholic beverages) are undoubtedly associated with specific areas, what’s more interesting is how many iterations of the same dish can be found nearly everywhere. Even though my travel is limited to Europe, being a bit of a foodie I’ve spent probably too much time reading about food cultures across the globe.
One of those food items is one that Jews traditionally eat at the upcoming Simchat Torah holiday: stuffed cabbage, to symbolize the rolled-up Torah. While this dish is most common among various Eastern European groups — each has its own version — the idea of stuffing vegetables can be seen from Spain to Scandinavia to Iraq and everywhere in between.
Many of us are strongly tied to the food of our heritage, but it’s good to remember that adaptation and variation have always been key to the food game. I say this because as a vegetarian I’m find myself often re-working classic Jewish recipes. While vegetarian holishkes may sound sacrilegious, who’s to say it’s not just another version?
Chag sameach!
Shana Goldberg may be reached at shana@ijn.com
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