The Hebrew Banana: Local Food and the Performance of Israeli National Identity

Abstract

This paper examines the transformation of everyday food products into markers of national affiliation through a conscious and concentrated effort. The campaign for tozeret haaretz (product of the land), launched in the 1920s called for the purchase of food grown or produced locally in Palestine, and later the state of Israel, by Jewish labor. It advocates using not what is most readily available or most economical, but rather it promotes a conscious act for the sake of the national future. This campaign serves as an example that ideology can determine national cultural products. The Zionists wished to consciously shape the eating habits of new Jewish immigrants to Palestine, fashioned them as essentially different from their eating habits in Eastern Europe as well as from those of the local Arab populations. Because of their “invented” nature, these foodstuffs acquired a special mark, clear labeling as “Hebrew.” The accompanying campaign transformed them into carriers of national significance for immigrants who might be unfamiliar with them. Their consumption became a way of performing the (re)new(ed) Hebrew nation.