I interviewed Rebecca Wall, a Doctoral Student of History at the University of Michigan, whose research has left her passionate about the history and foodways of Algerian Jews. She’s going to join the Roadhouse for the 5th Annual Jewish Foodways Dinner on April 13, 2010, but she shared this bit of background with me to help me get some perspective as we prepared for this dinner. Enjoy!

1. Give me some background on how the Jewish people came to live in Algerian, what time-period(s) did they settle here? Why which particular hardships were they fleeing/where?

The first Jews who settled in Algeria arrived there involuntarily, as slaves or exiles. The Romans landed initially at Carthage and discovered the lands of Algeria as they spread westwards from Tunisia. Many late Roman-era Jews were exiled to Algeria from Palestine in the first century C.E. for rebelling against Titus. These Jewish settlers were very successful and consequently, many indigenous, pagan Berbers converted to Judaism. (more…)

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