Kazan — summer 2012

I was reading student feedback from Kiev today. The most common comment? "My host family feeds me too much, and then I feel bad because I don't finish and then they tell me I'm wasting food."

Chuckle. If that's your worst problem in Kiev, you are doing really well.

But it brings to mind the American stereotype of the Jewish mother: "You're so skinny. Eat! Eat!"

It's actually not the Jewish mother. It's the Eastern European mother. Russians, Ukrainian, Poles and Bulgarians... they all do exactly the same thing. And in the 20th century where did many of the US Jews emigrate from? Eastern Europe.

It also is amusing to talk to Russians about the food in a Jewish deli in the US. Blintzes? Those are Russian bliny. Kasha varnishkes? The Russians make that, too. Some Russians even become indignant. "Why do you call that Jewish food? It's Russian food! It doesn't belong to the Jews!"

That's a holdover of generic antisemitism in Russia. It makes me laugh when I'm not thinking of the grimmer sides of it.