From their earliest encounters with Chinese food at the beginning of the 20th century, American Jews have embraced, adapted, and sometimes refashioned the cuisine. Sharing her research into this fascinating culinary and social history, the Wyner Family Jewish Heritage Center’s Curhan Scholar Shiyong Lu will explore the interactions between American Jews and Chinese food purveyors, and how adaptations arose in restaurants and home cooking in response to the cuisine’s tremendous popularity among Jews and its violation of kashrut (Jewish dietary laws). She will look at the similarities and differences between how this cross-cultural relationship played out in New York and Boston, and trace how American Chinese food became a bridge that linked two communities together.