Rosenblum provides an all-encompassing journey of the relationship between Jews and the pig, looking into scripture, comparative cultures and then how the pig became weaponized against the Jews. He goes right up to the point of modern-acceptable practices (like eating Chinese food but not Impossible Pork(tm)). The writing is flowing and often reads like a story. Because of the various points and themes, this may be best suited in an academic endeavor than a reading for curiosity sake.

Reading some parts of the history, it can be shocking just how cruel our forebears have been and off-putting on how some traditions were started (ham dinner on Easter Sunday, e.g.). Still it’s worthwhile to know why the pig was singled out as the delineating non-kosher animal that separates Jews from Gentiles—not the camel, hyrax, hare, oyster, etc. —not even that Gentiles used the ubiquitous livestock animal as a symbol but Jews did too. This prohibition against eating pork was picked up by Islam as well, much to my chagrin one time when I inadvertently ordered an omelette with ham while dining with Muslim friends. Knowing now more of the history Jordan Rosenblum has provided, I will be more aware of just how the pig’s meat has been used against our neighbors.

I really enjoyed reading this book! There wasn't a huge focus on the whole of the Jewish dietary laws, instead focusing on the social aspect of the one dietary restriction. It's interesting. I also got to chat with my boyfriend, who is Jewish and keeps Kosher, about his thoughts, which was a great bonding experience for me.

I enjoyed this book. The book started off strong with a very good introduction and stayed strong throughout. The book was well-paced and the subject matter fascinating. I also enjoyed the conversational tone and was pleased that there was little religious or sociological jargon. Not much background in Judaism is required to enjoy this book and Rosenblum doesn’t go into the minutiae of Jewish dietary rules. On the other hand, there was some very clever wording and many puns. I just thought that the puns would have worked better if there was less warning that a pun was coming; they stood well on their own. There was also nice art in the book. Overall this is a worthwhile read. Thank you to Netgalley and NYU Press for the advance reader copy.