Kugels and Collards: Sunday Brunch Book talk with Rachel Gordin Barnett and Lyssa Kligman Harvey

In Kugels and Collards, Rachel Gordin Barnett and Lyssa Kligman Harvey explore the food history, traditions, and memories of Jews in South Carolina, building on their blog of the same title. The book explores the diversity of Jewish South Carolina, with stories and recipes contributed from families with Sephardic and Ashkenazi heritage who have been in the state for hundreds of years, from descendants of Holocaust survivors, and from more recent immigrants from Russia and Israel. Kugels and Collards is also a story of cultural assimilation and exchange and considers how local ingredients and techniques have become part of the South Carolina Jewish table, including the influence of the generations of Black women who cooked for Jewish families.

This hybrid event will take place in the Jewish Studies Center, Arnold Hall (Room 100) and via Zoom. Brunch will be served beginning at 9:00 AM. Copies of the book will be available for purchase after the event.

Rachel Gordin Barnett and Lyssa Kligman Harvey have an interest in all things southern, Jewish, and historical, including foodways. Native South Carolinians, Rachel hails from small-town Summerton, SC, and Lyssa from Columbia, SC. They live in Columbia and have been instrumental in preserving Jewish history across the state. Founding members of the Historic Columbia Jewish Heritage Initiative, they created the Kugels & Collards blog to preserve and share Columbia’s Jewish history by collecting food stories, recipes, and photographs in a digital venue. Rachel is a past president and current executive director of the Jewish Historical Society of South Carolina (JHSSC). Lyssa is a past chair of JHSSC’s Jewish Cultural Arts committee and the past chair of The Columbia Holocaust Education Commission.