Another “Other” that tannaitic commensal practices establish in part is the category of women. A woman is not the “normative” Tanna, who is in general, “a male, property owning, rabbi or rabbinic disciple.” As the actions and participants surrounding the tannaitic table become increasingly regulated, this observation comes into greater focus.

In this chapter, I divide the tannaitic data into two groups: (1) texts pertaining to women preparing food and (2) texts pertaining to women at the table. Each group illustrates differently how tannaitic commensality practices enact and maintain a distinct Jewish male identity. From texts legislating the preparation of food by women, we encounter the literary role that women play in the tannaitic corpus. In these pericopae, women are often not “real” women; they are literary foils, serving a discursive purpose. As characters in a drama, they are introduced only to elucidate the social and legal effects of certain culinary and commensal practices on tannaitic men.