IN ANY CULTURE, food serves as an important touchstone and marker of tradition, and this is certainly true of Jewish culture. For the Jews, food serves a religious purpose as well as a cultural one; Jewish food and foodways have adapted with aplomb and resiliency to new countries, regions, and cultural norms. But food also conveys tradition and memory; whether it be the “sauerkraut and small noodles” from a poem that comforted Holocaust sufferers during a dark hour, the treasured recipes gathered by a Sephardic sisterhood, or cheerful and colorful cookbooks advertising modern versions of old favorites, food is a potent and dynamic reminder of religion, culture, and tradition—a nourishing source of comfort, laughter, and home. Nourishing Tradition features objects from the collections of all five Center partners—American Jewish Historical Society, American Sephardi Federation, Leo Baeck Institute, Yeshiva University Museum, and YIVO Institute for Jewish Research—and they illustrate the diverse, rich traditions of Jewish cuisine worldwide.