In an informal interview of Elliot Dorenbaum, a senior at Emory University, I asked him to discuss his experience of being a "Nontraditional Jew." Everywhere he was, he felt a little bit removed due to different influences on him. At school, he was around many white Jewish kids, and they did not understand many of his habits that were a result of his Mexican influence. As a result, many of his childhood friends would make jokes about how he was not really Jewish, and simply Mexican. While at home, he couldn’t speak English or use many English words because his parents had not assimilated to the culture and didn’t understand many of the words. As a result, he believes that this gives him an outside perspective because he understands how culture influences development. He also claimed that he felt more Jewish living in northern California than in Mexico even though his entire family is Jewish. He claims that in Mexico, the Jewish people do not ascribe to the Mexican culture. According to him, the community of Jews living in Mexico consists of Orthodox Jews, which makes them recognizable (due to the way they dress). Thus, people become more aware of their surroundings in the presence of the Jews. Further, the small communities of Mexican-Jews living in Mexico tend to be isolated from the rest of the population and choose to interact with each other. This is very similar to the scenario described in many of the books we encountered in class. For example, in the chapter on Peddlers in Jewish Roots in Southern Soil, Diner claims that many Jewish peddlers struggled with the lifestyle because they would travel to numerous places and forced to stay in the homes of people who were not Jewish. In my opinion, a Jewish-Mexican cuisine could help bridge this gap. In fact, his grandmother wrote a book titled Sefra Dayme that discusses the mix of Mediterranean Jewish food with Mexican food.