The Newark Table: Food and the Forming of Jewish-American Identity in the Fiction of Philip Roth

Philip Roth is considered one of the most important writers in North American literature and his work has as a recurring team the crossroads between Jewish identity and the United States. One element that symbolizes these connections is the relationship between American Jews and their food the ritual of meals. These scenes appear in many of Roth's books and allow the author to explore the many layers of hybridism that form Jewish identity in the United States and Israel. This paper analyzes these images and how they articulate themselves and develop throughout the author's carrer.