Jordan Rosenblum is Professor of Religious Studies, University of Wisconsin-Madison, where he is also the Belzer Professor of Classical Judaism at the Mosse/Weinstein Center for Jewish Studies. He is the author of many books, including Rabbinic Drinking: What Beverages Teach Us About Rabbinic Literature,
The Jewish Dietary Laws in the Ancient World and Food and Identity in Early Rabbinic Judaism and coeditor of Feasting and Fasting: The History and Ethics of Jewish Food.

"An enlightening historical exposé of the remarkable transformation of the pig from an obscure animal in Jewish dietary laws to the center of what it means to be Jewish."-- "Foreword Reviews"

"Easy to read, spiced with humor and new information. Who knew there was so much history between Jews and pigs?"-- "Jewish Herald-Voice"

"Using a wealth of sources, Rosenblum invites read-ers to delve deep into the Jew-ish cul-tur-al sig-nif-i-cance of the swine over time."-- "The Jewish Book Council"

"A historical tour d'horizon of the obsessive focus on Jews and the pig from antiquity to the present... Given [Rosenblum's] past scholarship on Jewish foodways in antiquity, it comes as no surprise that the analyses of classical texts sparkle... Those who eat 'pork for dinner, ' those repelled by the very thought, and those somewhere in between will all find food for thought in this illuminating volume."--Jonathan Sarna "Contemporary Jewry"

"A lively new history."-- "The Jewish Chronicle"

"Forbidden is an engaging and surprisingly cheerful study of that odd couple of the religious imagination, the Jew and the pig... The anthropologist in Mr. Rosenblum calls [Jewish-American pork-eaters] a 'balancing of rupture and continuity.' There is, of course, no balancing rupture and continuity. Sometimes, you have to pick a side. And a main."-- "Wall Street Journal"

"Captivating and contagious ... The depth into which Rosenblum reaches to uncover minute and key details and hidden correlations equally deserves praise."-- "Association of Jewish Libraries"

"Wonderfully written ... Rosenblum's book, a model of bringing religion, history, and contemporary experience together, shows how the decisions we make today often live in the shadow of those we have faced for centuries."-- "The Jewish News of Northern California"