The presentation that was assigned to my class and I in History and LC was to read about a specific immigrant family that lived in one of the tenement houses on 97 Orchard Street in New York City. The family that my group received was the Gumpertz family. During my reading about this family I learned that they came from Prussia in order to start a better life for themselves. They faced many hardships coming to America but over came them and assimilated into the American culture. German-Jews in Prussia had very strict rules about the food they ate but once many immigrated came to New York these traditions changed a bit due to the availability of foods in NYC.

Gefilte fish is one dish in particular the German-Jews brought from Prussia. No one really knows exactly who came up with this dish but it is now commonly associated with the Jews. Gefilte fish is a dish of stewed or baked fish boiled in a fish or vegetable broth that is served cold.

A few days ago I was walking through the supermarket with my mom and I came across a jar of Gefilte fish. I was surprised to see it in jars in a supermarket and not in the fresh fish section. The Gefilte fish was in the a section of the aisle with all of the other Jewish products. Seeing the Gefilte fish in the aisle of the supermarket made me automatically think of the project I did in my class the other day . It made me realize that some dishes in many cultures have stayed the same and haven’t changed no matter how much time has passed. Even though some traditions may assimilate with other cultures they still manage to preserve some traditional ways. Just like the Gefilte fish in Jewish culture.