Was watching National Geographic today, the dailyish news show, and the topic was does being exposed to extreme tempeture or dampness"cause" colds. As an aside, the hostess mentioned chicken soup,“or sometimes known as jewish penecillian” had been shown in studies to help cure some of a colds symptoms. This stuck me as suprising as it seemed completly out of context and did nothing to further the story and just perpetuated the cheap jew stereotype. national Geographic is a supposedly very respected organization and i was kind of shocked to hear this. Was my reaction just oversensativity? ps. Not that it matters but im not even Jewish.
Err subject line should be" Is this racist?" Preview is my friend. Preview is my friend.
december. Don’t you ever get tired of trotting out these anti-Jewish rants…what? He didn’t? WHO started this?
jonpluc. This is just my opinion. It’s not an anti-Jewish joke. It might have even been started by Jewish comics years ago. I wouldn’t be surprised. It doesn’t denigrate Jews.
Why do you think it perpetuated the cheap Jewish stereotype? Did it offend you? I don’t see any problem with it.
I took it as it did denigrate Jews. There was NO context to bring Jewishness into it for any reason. This wasnt an article about Jews or really, even chicken soup. To me it was kind of like doing an article on people in Africa and having the Hostess say, “these people, sometimes known as jungle bunnies”…well you get my point. it seemed completly innappropriate, did nothing to further the point of the article and seemed racist to me. But then again thats why this is in IMHO.
samarm , the stereotype i drew anyway was jew = cheap because soup less expensive solution than paying for real medicine. Perhaps i drew more from it than there was but im not so sure. Hence the reason for my thread.
No, it is not because soup is cheap, but simply because chicken soup is an old folk remedy for colds among various ethnic groups, including Jewish people.
So if its done by many various ethnic groups, why single out Jews?
The Irish aren’t the only folks who mix coffee with whiskey, nor are the Chinese the only people who have fake fire drills, nor are the Dutch the only ones who make each party pay his own way.
I’ve heard the “Jewish Penicillin” thing before… and I always took it as something like, “Jewish people make very good chicken soup that makes you get better when you’re sick”. But that may just be some lingering naievety from growing up in Qadgop’s house. I knew about sex pretty early on, sure, but I’m STILL not sure which racial slurs apply to which racial groups sometimes.
I’ve heard it before too, and never thought of it as racist. As elfbabe said, I just imagined it meant “old folk remedy.”
Although I guess it was actually MLS who said that. 
jonpluc, there’s nothing racist about it, either intended or implied. I’m Jewish and I call my chicken soup Jewish penicillin. Whenever my husband gets sick I make him a big pot of Jewish penicillin. It’s just what we Jews do.
You’ll find hundreds of references to it all over Google.
Aunt Bessie’s Jewish Penicillin is pretty close to my recipe, only I use parsnip instead of a turnip.
Koshercooking.com gives one possible explanation as to the origin of the term…
So while I’m somewhat flattered that you’d take offense on my behalf, methinks you’re trying too hard to find offense where none exists.
I too have heard the term for years, usually from Jews. I asked one co-worker about its effectiveness once. His reply was
[heavy yiddish accent]
Hey, it can’t hurt!
[/hya]
Shayna that aunt Bessie recipe sounds good. Next time I get a cold, I’ll beg you for a batch.
"Is this racit? "
Just an OK name for a rock band.
I’ve heard this from actual Jews. I don’t think it’s a problem. Mmm…chicken soup!
What’s the term from that old Bloom County strip – offensensitivity?
Every Jewish “Borscht Belt” comedian tells jokes about his Mama’s chicken soup and its medicinal value. So, Jews obviously don’t find it inherently racist.
Unless the persona telling the joke has shown some sign of blatant anti-semitism in the past, I can’t think of any reason to regard it as racist. One CAN make note of ethnic difference and quirks in a funny and affectionate manner.
I mean, Englishmen may get tired of jokes about their supposedly awful cuisine, but would anyone call Jay Leno a “racist” or an “Anglophobe” if he told such a joke? To me, a chicken soup joke falls into that same category.
Turnips? Parsnips? Feh!
I don’t know from roots like these, but the day they show up in a pot on my stove is the day I’m dying.
There’s an old, well, stereotype I suppose of Jewish mothers/grandmothers giving chicken soup as a “cure for what ails ya”. This would be the source of the comment, not something as inflammatory as what you may have been imagining.
FWIW, I think this is more of a “beloved Jewish stereotype” than an insulting “outsider” stereotype. Most people I’ve heard using this have been Jewish.
What Shayna and occ said. If it’s a racist phrase, then every member of my extended Jewish family is a racist, including the ones who make chicken soup and shove it down the throats of the rest of us at every possible opportunity.
So no, I don’t think it’s racist, nor would any other Jew I know and/or am related to. It’s one of those cute, endearing cultural things.