“We make it a Haredi snack”: Popcorn consumption among the Israeli ultra-orthodox Jewish community

This ethnographic study aims to clarify how popcorn became the most common snack among the ultra-Orthodox Jewish (Haredi) community in Israel. Every day, huge bags of popcorn are sold in ultra-Orthodox neighborhoods and cities. Based on multi-sited fieldwork, I examine the reasons for this massive consumption and the way it sheds light on social and cultural aspects of the community. I argue that beyond serving as an inexpensive snack that facilitates bulk purchasing within the ultra-Orthodox community—characterized by socioeconomically disadvantaged families with many children—the buying and consumption of popcorn illuminate social dynamics and intra-community expressions of identity, practice, and belonging. The purchase, preparation, and eating of popcorn reveals a symbolic boundary and separation between the ultra-Orthodox community and the secular public. This creates and expresses a communal discourse around issues such as kosher laws, modesty, charity, social cohesiveness, and even Torah study in communal settings. Therefore, this microscopic ethnography scrutinizes various trajectories and intersections between food and religion, illustrating how food shapes the existence of social practices that contribute to the preservation of social and cultural values and constructions.