The National Museum of American Jewish History is serving up menus, cookbooks, recipes, signs and other food-related artifacts in a new temporary exhibition that Forshpeis explores themes of identity, immigration, and cultural expression.

Opening June 16, Forshpeis! A Taste of the Peter H. Schweitzer Collection of Jewish Americana, reveals flavorful aspects of American Jewish life by looking at food in a range of settings, including in the kitchen and at the deli. The exhibition also explores through the Schweitzer Collection the role food played in helping immigrant Jews adjust to life in the United States and illustrates how Jewish foods, like American Jews themselves, have become a part of the American mainstream.

*Forshpeis! is Yiddish for appetizer.

Consider the once-humble delicatessen, which originated in Eastern European Jewish immigrant communities and went on to become a mainstay of contemporary life across the country, from Carnegie Deli in New York to the Olde Tyme Deli in Mississippi to Canter’s Deli in Los Angeles.

Forshpeis! might have you hungering for a corned beef special after you visit the exhibition’s evocation of a classic deli counter, surrounded by menus, pickle crocks, invoices, a Kosher Zion salami pillow, and a paper deli worker’s hat encouraging you to “Ask For Mrs. Weinberg’s Kosher Chopped Liver.”

Immigrants entered the American mainstream through the foods they sold (and, later, manufactured). Large numbers of Jewish immigrants from Germany and Eastern Europe began as pushcart peddlers, selling food products in their neighborhoods. Some achieved success and moved from peddler to small shop owner. Others, in a display of American entrepreneurial spirit, became manufacturers of national brands such as Manischewitz and Hebrew National.

For other immigrant Jews, using quintessential American products such as Crisco Vegetable Shortening, Planters Peanut Oil and Jell-O in their homes was a way for them to feel, and become, American. The exhibition also includes the recreation of a kitchen, a central place where American and Jewish identities merged. Peer inside the kitchen cabinet and see an array of products such as Ma Cohen’s Imported Lunch Herring, Heinz Oven Baked Beans, Edelstein’s Tuxedo Brand Home Made Cheese, and Ladies Choice Kosher Pickles.

To discover what to do with all of these items, you can turn to an array of cookbooks on display, including Grandma’s Kosher Recipes, Modern Jewish Meals and What Shall I Serve? Famous Recipes for Jewish Housewives. Forshpeis! also features a section devoted to bar and bat mitzvah celebrations and the Passover Seder, events that demonstrate the importance of food at holidays and lifecycle events in Jewish life. An advertisement that appears in the exhibition reads, “You Don’t Have to be Jewish to love Levy’s real Jewish Rye.” Likewise, you don’t have to be Jewish to love this exhibition. Admission is free.

The National Museum of American Jewish History recently acquired the Peter H. Schweitzer Collection, one of the largest private holdings of Jewish Americana. Comprising nearly 10,000 artifacts gathered over twenty-five years, the collection spans from the eighteenth century to the present day. Artifacts from the collection have been displayed in museums around the country, but this is the first exhibition based exclusively on his objects. After Forshpeis! closes, objects from the Schweitzer Collection will be presented in future temporary exhibitions, as well as in the core exhibition in the Museum’s new building. The opening of the new building is planned for 2009 at Fifth and Market streets on Independence Mall in Philadelphia, a block from its current location.

FOR ART, CONTACT JAY NACHMAN AT 215-923-5978 OR BY EMAIL AT JNACHMAN@NMAJH.ORG