Jewish Cuisine
Jewish cuisine is a diverse collection of cooking traditions of the Jewish people worldwide. It has evolved over many centuries, shaped by Jewish dietary laws(kashrut), Jewish Festival, and Shabbat (Sabbath) traditions. Jewish cuisine is influenced by the economics, agriculture, and culinary traditions of the many countries where Jewish communities have settled and varies widely throughout the whole world.
The distinctive styles in Jewish cuisine are Ashkenazi, Sephardi, Mizrahi, Persian, Yemenite, Indian, and Latin-American. There are also dishes from Jewish communities from Ethiopia to Central Asia.Since the establishment of the State of Israel in 1948, and particularly since the late 1970s, a nascent Israeli “fusion cuisine” has developed. Jewish Israeli cuisine has especially adapted a multitude of elements, overlapping techniques and ingredients from many diaspora Jewish culinary traditions.
Using agricultural products from dishes of one Jewish culinary tradition in the elaboration of dishes of other Jewish culinary traditions, as well as incorporating and adapting various other Middle Eastern dishes from the local non-Jewish population of the Land of Israel (which had not already been introduced via the culinary traditions of Jews which arrived to Israel from the various other Arab countries), Israeli Jewish cuisine is both authentically Jewish (and most often kosher) and distinctively local “Israeli”, yet thoroughly hybridised from its multicultural diasporas Jewish origins.
Influences on Jewish Cuisine
Kashrut—Jewish dietary laws
The laws of keeping kosher (kashrut) have influenced Jewish cooking by prescribing what foods are permitted and how food must be prepared. The word kosher is usually translated as “proper”. Certain foods, notably pork and shellfish, are forbidden; meat and dairy may not be combined, and meat must be ritually slaughtered and salted to remove all traces of blood.
Observant Jews will eat only meat or poultry that is certified kosher. The meat must have been slaughtered by a shochet (ritual slaughterer) in accordance with Jewish law and is entirely drained of blood. Before it is cooked, it is soaked in water for half an hour, then placed on a perforated board, sprinkled with coarse salt (which draws out the blood), and left to sit for one hour. At the end of this time, the salt is washed off and the meat is ready for cooking. Today, kosher meats purchased from a butcher or supermarket are usually already kashered as described above, and no additional soaking or salting is required.
According to kashrut, meat and poultry may not be combined with dairy products, nor may they touch plates or utensils that have been touched by dairy products. Therefore, Jews who strictly observe kashrut divide their kitchens into different sections for meat and for dairy, with separate ovens, plates, and utensils (or as much as is reasonable, given financial and space constraints; there are procedures to kasher utensils that have touched dairy to allow their use for meat).
As a result, butter, milk and cream are not used in preparing dishes made with meat or intended to be served together with meat. Oil, pareve margarine, rendered chicken fat (often called schmaltz in the Ashkenazi tradition), or non-dairy cream substitutes are used instead.
Despite religious prohibitions, some foods not generally considered kosher have made their way into traditional Jewish cuisine; sturgeon, which was consumed by European Jews at least as far back as the 19th century, is one example.
Geographical dispersion
The hearty cuisine of Ashkenazi Jews was based on centuries of living in the cold climate of Central and Eastern Europe, whereas the lighter, “sunnier” cuisine of Sephardi Jews was affected by life in the Mediterranean region.
Each Jewish community has its traditional dishes, often revolving around specialties from their home country. In Spain and Portugal, olives are a common ingredient, and many foods are fried in oil. The idea of frying fish in the stereotypically British fish and chips, for example, was introduced to Britain by Sephardic Jewish immigrants. In Germany, stews were popular. The Jews of Netherlands specialized in pickles, herring, butter cakes and bolas (jamrolls). In Poland, Jews made various kinds of stuffed and stewed fish along with matzo ball soup or lokshen noodles. In North Africa, Jews eat couscous and tagine.
Thus, a traditional Shabbat meal for Ashkenazi Jews might include roast beef, pot roast, or chicken, carrots tzimmes, and potatoes. A traditional Shabbat meal for Sephardi Jews would focus more on salads, stuffed vine leaves, couscous and other Middle Eastern specialties
History of Jewish cuisine
Biblical era
The daily diet of the ordinary ancient Israelite was mainly one of bread, cooked grains, and legumes. Bread was eaten with every meal. Vegetables played a smaller, but significant role in the diet. The Israelites drank goat and sheep’s milk when it was available in the spring and summer, and ate butter and cheese. Figs and grapes were the fruits most commonly eaten, while dates, pomegranates, and other fruits and nuts were eaten more occasionally. Wine was the most popular beverage and sometimes other fermented beverages were produced. Olives were used primarily for their oil. Meat, usually goat and mutton, was eaten rarely and reserved for special occasions, such as celebrations, festival meals, or sacrificial feasts. Game, birds, eggs and fish were also eaten, depending on availability.
Most food was eaten fresh and in season. Fruits and vegetables had to be eaten as they ripened and before they spoiled. People had to contend with periodic episodes of hunger and famine. Producing enough food required hard and well-timed labor and the climatic conditions resulted in unpredictable harvests and the need to store as much food as possible. Thus, grapes were made into raisins and wine, olives were made into oil, figs, beans and lentils were dried, and grains were stored for use throughout the year.
The cuisine maintained many consistent traits based on the main products available from the early Israelite period until the Roman period, even though new foods became available during this extended time. For example, rice was introduced during the Persian era. During the Hellenistic period, as trade with the Nabateans increased, more spices became available, at least for those who could afford them, and more Mediterranean fish were imported into the cities. During the Roman period, sugar cane was introduced.
The symbolic food of the ancient Israelites continued to be important among Jews after the destruction of the Second Temple in 70 CE and the beginning of the Jewish Diaspora. Bread, wine, and olive oil were seen as direct links to the three main crops of ancient Israel – wheat, grapes, and olives. In the Bible, this trio is described as representing the divineresponse to human needs (Hosea 2:23-24) and, particularly, the need for the seasonal rains vital for the successful cultivation of these three crops. (Deuteronomy 11:13-14).[9] The significance of wine, bread and oil is indicated by their incorporation into Jewish religious ritual, with the blessings over wine and bread for Shabbat and holiday meals, and at religious ceremonies such as weddings, and the lighting of Shabbat and festival lights with olive oil.
Talmudic era
Bread was a staple food, and as in the Bible, the meal is designated by the simple term “to eat bread,” so the rabbinical law ordains that the blessing pronounced upon bread covers everything else except wine and dessert. Bread was made not only from wheat, but also from barley, rice, millet, lentils, etc. Many kinds of fruit were eaten. There was a custom to eat apples during Shavuot, while specific fruit and herbs were eaten on holidays and special occasions such as, Rosh Hashana. Children received nuts and roasted ears of grain especially on the evening of Passover. Olives were so common that they were used as a measure (zayit).
Meat was eaten only on special occasions, on Shabbat and at feasts. The pious kept fine cattle for Shabbat (Beẓah 16a); but various other kinds of dishes, relishes, and spices were also on the table. Deer, also, furnished meat, as did pheasant, chickens, and pigeons. Fish was eaten on Friday evening in honor of Shabbat[citation needed]. Pickled fish was an important article of commerce, being called “garum” among the Jews, as among the Greeks and Romans. Pliny[13] says expressly of a “garum castimoniale” (i.e., kosher garum) that it was prepared according to Jewish law. A specific type of locusts were eaten. Eggs were so commonly eaten that the quantity of an egg was used as a measure.[14]
Structure of meal
The first dish was a pickled starter to stimulate the appetite,[15] followed by the main meal, which ended with a dessert, called in Greek θάργημα. Afiḳomen is used in the same sense. Titbits (parperet) were eaten before and after the meal (Ber. vi. 6). Wine was flavored with myrrh[16] or with honey and pepper, the mixture being called conditum. There was vinegar wine,[17] wine from Amanus, and Cilicia,[18] red wine from Saron, Ethiopian wine,[19] and black wine.[20] Certain wines were considered good for the stomach, others not.[21] There was beer from Egypt called zythos[22] (Pes. iii. 1), and beer made from a thorn Spina regia.[23][24] Emphasis was placed on drinking with the meal as “eating without drinking means suicide”.
Middle Ages
The Jews were so widely scattered in the Middle Ages that it is difficult to give a connected account of their mode of living as regards food. In Arabic countries the author of the Halakhot Gedolot knew some dishes that appear to have been specific Jewish foods, e.g., “paspag”,[26] which was, perhaps, biscuit; according to the Siddur Amram,[27] the well-known “ḥaroset” is made in those countries from a mixture of herbs, flour, and honey (Arabic,”ḥalikah“). Maimonides, in his “Sefer Refu’ot”,[28] mentions dishes that are good for health. He recommends bread baked from wheat that is not too new, nor too old, nor too fine,[29] further, the meat of the kid, sheep, and chicken, and the yolks of eggs. Goats’ and cows’ milk is good, nor are cheese and butter harmful. Honey is good for old people; fish with solid white flesh meat is wholesome; so also are wine and dried fruits. Fresh fruits, however, are unwholesome; and he does not recommend garlic or onions.
There is detailed information about Italian Jewish cookery in the book Massechet Purim. It discusses[31] pies, chestnuts, turtledoves, pancakes, small tarts, gingerbread, ragouts, venison, roast goose, chicken, stuffed pigeons, ducks, pheasants, partridges, quails, macaroons, and salad. These were considered luxuries. The oppressed medieval Jews enjoyed large meals only on Shabbat, festivals, circumcisions, and weddings. For example, the Jews of Rhodes, according to a letter of Ovadiah Bartinura, 1488, lived on herbs and vegetables only, never tasting meat or wine. In Egypt, however, meat, fish, and cheese were obtainable,]in Gaza, grapes, fruit, and wine.] Cold dishes are still relished in the East. Generally, only one dish was eaten, with fresh bread daily.
Some Jewish dishes frequently mentioned in Yiddish literature from the twelfth century onward are brätzel, lokshen, pasteten, fladen, beleg. Barscht or borshtsh soup is a Ukrainian beet soup, best known are the berkes or barches (challah) eaten on Shabbat,] and shalet (cholent), which Heine commemorates, and which the Spanish Jews called ani (hamin). Shabbat pudding, kigl or kugel in Yiddish, is also well known.
Modern era
Most of the dishes cooked by Jewish people of Eastern Europe origin are akin to those of the nations among whom they dwelled, and in much of Europe (including most of the English-speaking world) is the dominant style associated with “Jewish cooking”; substitutions were made to accommodate the dietary laws. Hence, dishes which Gentiles make with pork are made with veal or chicken; chicken fat (or, more modernly, hydrogenated vegetable oil such as Crisco) is used in place of lard. Thus the kasha and blintzes of the Russian Jews, the mamaliga of the Romanians, the paprika of the Hungarians, are dishes adopted by the Jews from their gentile neighbors. Only on religious and ceremonial occasions did they cook special Jewish dishes. In the United States, in particular, Jewish cooking (and the cookbooks that recorded and guided it) evolved in ways that illuminate changes in the role of Jewish women and the Jewish home. Jewish cuisine has also played a bit part in shaping the restaurant scene in the West, in particular in the UK and US. Israeli cuisine in particular has become a leading food trend in the UK, with many Israeli restaurants now opening up sister restaurants in London and beyond.
Jewish Cuisine has been known to be colorful and delicious since time could tell. These dishes are filling and known to cure illness such as headaches and sore throats. However, over time Jews have tried and consumed many different types of foods. Many of the foods come from the Mediterranean, North Africa, Middle East, Red Sea Region, and India. The foods have come from here because these lands were once a part of the Islamic world and directly reflect the related food customs of this culture. The foods also directly affect the socio-economical standings and this was seen to flourish in the early Middle Ages when the Jewish lands culturally and economically grew. When the Jews were expelled from Spain, they decided to show off their traditions and carry them with them to North Africa and the Ottoman lands where they were able to show off their cuisine.
For instance the Ashkenazi Jews were poor and their foods reflected this and their migration of the community that was first based in Germany before coming to North Africa. Americans eat the Ashkenazi food almost on a daily basis and don’t even realize it. Bagels, knishes, and borscht are the Ashkenazi foods familiar to the United States. Majority of the Jews were located on the East Coast in the early twentieth century but lived and traveled throughout the United States. Living off of the East Coast was when the famous Matzah balls became popular. They were made with hot pepper and gefilte fish that is made from salmon and have had a strong influence on Jewish Cuisine. One of the dishes popular with Matzah balls is Matzah Ball Soup and this is one of the dishes known for helping cure illnesses. It is a relaxing yet filling choice.
The Jewish culture has a variety of foods but it’s believed that Israel itself has yet to develop its own national cuisine. The best known foods associated with Israel right now are hummus, falafel, and Israeli Salad. Indeed the Jewish foods have also impacted the fast food of the United States as McDonald’s is now kosher. This is because the Jews have kosher laws that explain the do’s and don’ts with food and one rule is what animals they can and cannot eat as well as how they should be slaughtered and then cooked for consumption. This is all because the Jews believe in the fact that there is a right and a wrong way to eat food and it is important to go by the guidelines.
Jewish cuisine variations
Jewish cuisines vary widely depending on their regions of origin, but they tend to be broadly categorized into Sephardi (Iberian and North African), Mizrahi (Middle Eastern and Central Asian) and Ashkenazi (Eastern and Central European) families. Still, there is significant overlap, between the different cuisines, as Jews have often migrated great distances and as different regions where Jews have settled (e.g. Southeastern Europe) have been influenced by different cultures over time. For example, Balkan Jewish cuisine contains both Ashkenazi / European and Sephardic-Turkish influences, as this part of Europe (up to the borders of present-day Austria and Poland) was for a time part of the Ottoman Empire. Since the rise of Ashkenazi Jewish migration to 19th-Century Palestine and the establishment of the State of Israel, increased contact between Ashkenazi, Sephardi, and Mizrahi Jews has led to a rising importance of Middle Eastern and Mediterranean cuisine amongst Jews of all ethnicities.
Ashkenazi
While Ashkenazi cuisine as it is known today is largely based within the context of American-Jewish and Ashkenazi-Israeli food, much of the culinary tradition of Ashkenazi Jews springs from Central and Eastern Europe. After having been expelled from Western Europe in the Middle Ages, Jews were forced to live in poverty and thus were limited in terms of ingredients. Dishes were made with fewer components; they weren’t heavily spiced and ingredients that were more flavorful had to be used sparingly. This is often why some dishes in Ashkenazic cuisine are known for being blander than dishes in Sephardic or Mizrahi cuisine.
Fish
With kosher meat not always available, fish became an important staple of the Jewish diet. In Eastern Europe it was sometimes especially reserved for Shabbat. As fish is not considered meat in the same way that beef or poultry are, it can also be eaten with dairy products (although some Sephardim do not mix fish and dairy). Even though fish is parve, when they are served at the same meal, Orthodox Jews will eat them during separate courses, and wash (or replace) the dishes in between. Gefilte fish and lox are popular in Ashkenazi cuisine.
Gefilte fish (from German gefüllte “stuffed” fish) was traditionally made by skinning the fish steaks, usually German carp, de-boning the flesh, mincing it and mixing with finely chopped browned onions (3:1), eggs, salt, pepper, and vegetable oil. The fish skin and head were then stuffed with the mixture and poached.[49] The religious reason for a boneless fish dish for the Sabbath is the prohibition of separating bones from food while eating [the prohibition of ‘borer’, separating]
Vorschmack / gehakte herring spread on rye bread
A more common commercially packaged product found today is the “Polish” gefilte fish patties or balls, similar to quenelles, where sugar is added to the broth, resulting in a slightly sweet taste.[50] Strictly speaking they are the fish filling, rather than the complete filled fish.[51] This method of serving evolved from the tradition of removing the stuffing from the skin,[52] rather than portioning the entire fish into slices before serving.
While traditionally made with carp, gefilte fish may also be made from any large fish: cod, haddock, or hake in the United Kingdom, carp or pike in France. In United States whitefish is added to the above as a mince.
The combination of lox, smoked salmon, or whitefish with bagels and cream cheese is a traditional breakfast or brunch in American Jewish cuisine, made famous at New York City delicatessens.
Vorschmack or gehakte hering (chopped herring), a popular appetizer on Shabbat, is made by chopping skinned, boned herrings with hard-boiled eggs, onions, apples, sugar, pepper, and a dash of vinegar.
Soup
A number of soups are characteristically Ashkenazi, one of the most common of which is chicken soup (יױך, yoykh), traditionally served on Shabbat, holidays, and special occasions. The soup may be served with noodles (lokshen in Yiddish) or rice. It is often served with Shkedei marak (lit. “soup almonds” – croutons popular in Israel), called “mandlen” or “mandlach” in Yiddish. Other popular ingredients are kreplach (dumplings) and kneidlach (matzo balls) – a mixture of matzo meal, eggs, water, melted fat, pepper and salt. Some reserve kneidlach for Passover and kreplach for other special occasions.
In the preparation of a number of soups, neither meat nor fat is used. Such soups formed the food of the poor classes. An expression among Jews of Eastern Europe, soup mit nisht (soup with nothing), owes its origin to soups of this kind. Soups such as borsht were considered a staple in Ukraine. Soups like krupnik were made of barley, potatoes, and fat. This was the staple food of the poor students of the yeshivot; in richer families, meat was added to this soup.
At weddings, “golden” chicken soup was often served. The reason for its name is probably the yellow circles of molten chicken fat floating on its surface. Today, chicken soup is widely referred to (not just among Jews) in jest as “Jewish penicillin,” and hailed as a cure for the common cold.[53]
There are a number of sour soups in the borscht category. One is kraut or cabbage borscht, made by cooking together cabbage, meat, bones, onions, raisins, sour salt (citric acid), sugar, and sometimes tomatoes. Beet borsht is served hot or cold. In the cold version, a beaten egg yolk may be added before serving, and each bowl topped with a dollop of sour cream. This last process is called farweissen(to make white).
Bread and cake
The dough of challah (called barkhes in Western Yiddish) is often shaped into forms having symbolical meanings; thus on Rosh Hashanah rings and coins are imitated, indicating “May the new year be as round and complete as these”; for Hosha’na Rabbah, bread is baked in the form of a key, meaning “May the door of heaven open to admit our prayers.” The hamentash, a triangular cookie or turnover filled with fruit preserves (lekvar) or honey and black poppy seed paste, is eaten on the Feast of Purim. It is said to be shaped like the hat of Haman the tyrant. The mohn kihel is a circular or rectangular wafer sprinkled with poppy seed. Pirushkes, or turnovers, are little cakes fried in honey or dipped in molasses after they are baked. Strudel is served for dessert. Kugels are prepared from rice, noodles or mashed potatoes.
In Eastern Europe, the Jews baked black (“proster,” or “ordinary”) bread, white bread, and challah. The most common form is the twist (“koilitch” or “kidke” from the Romanian word “încolăci” which means “to twist”). The koilitch is oval in form, and about one and a half feet in length. On special occasions, such as weddings, the koilitch is increased to a length of about two and a half feet. The bagel, which originated from the Eastern Europe bublik, is a popular Ashkenazi food.
Meat and fats
Gebratenes (roasted meat), chopped meat, and Essig-Fleisch (vinegar meat) are favorite meat recipes. The Essig or, as it is sometimes called, Honig or Sauerbraten, is made by adding to meat which has been partially roasted with some sugar, bay-leaves, pepper, raisins, salt and a little vinegar. Knish is a snack food consisting of a meat or potato filling covered with dough that is either baked, grilled, or deep fried.
A popular dish among Ashkenazim, as amongst most Eastern-Europeans, is pierogi (which are related to but distinct from kreplach), often filled with minced beef. Kishka is a popular Ashkenazi dish traditionally made from beef intestine (casing) stuffed with flour or matzo meal, schmaltz and spices.
The rendered fat of geese and chickens, known as schmaltz, is kept in readiness for cooking use when needed. Geribenes or “scraps,” also called griven, the cracklings left from the rendering process were one of the favorite foods in Eastern Europe. Geribenes is eaten spread on bread.
A spread of chopped liver, prepared with onions and often including gribenes, is a popular appetizer, side dish, or snack, especially among Jews on the eastern coast of North America. It is usually served with rye bread or crackers.
Holishkes, stuffed cabbage, also known as the cabbage roll, is also a European Jewish dish that emerged from more impoverished times for Jews. Because having a live cow was more valuable than to eat meat in the Middle Ages, Jews used fillers such as breadcrumbs and vegetables to mix with ground beef. This gave the effect of more meat that was stuffed into the cabbage leaves
Shabbat and holiday dishes
Shabbat
Good food is an important part of the mitzvah of “oneg Shabbat” (“enjoying Shabbat”). Hence much of Jewish cuisine revolves around Shabbat.
As observant Jews do not cook on Shabbat, various techniques were developed to provide for a hot meal on Shabbat day. One such dish is “cholent” or “chamin,” a slow-cooked stew of meat, potatoes, beans and barley (although there are many other variations). The ingredients are placed in a pot and put up to boil before lighting the candles on Friday evening. Then the pot is placed on a hotplate, traditional “blech” (thin tin sheet used to cover the flames, and on which the pot is placed), or in a slow oven and left to simmer until the following day.
A prominent feature of Shabbat cookery is the preparation of twists of bread, known as “challahs” or (in southern Germany, Austria and Hungary) “barches.” They are often covered with seeds to represent manna, which fell in a double portion on the sixth day.[citation needed]
Another Shabbat dish is calf’s foot jelly, called p’tsha or šaltiena in Lithuania and galarita, galer, galleh, or fisnoge in Poland. Beef or calf bones are put up to boil with water, seasonings, garlic and onions for a long time. It is then allowed to cool. The broth then jells into a semi-solid mass, which is served in cubes. Drelies, a similar dish originating in south Russia and Galicia is mixed with soft-boiled eggs and vinegar when removed from the oven, and served hot. In Romania it is called piftie, in Serbia pihtije; it is served cold, with garlic, hard boiled eggs and vinegar sauce or mustard creme and considered a traditional dish in the winter season.
Kugel is another Shabbat favorite, particularly lokshen kugel, a sweet baked noodle pudding, often with raisins and spices. Non-sweet kugels may be made of potatoes, carrots or a combination of vegetables.
Traditional noodles—lokshen—are made from a dough of flour and eggs rolled into sheets and then cut into long strips. If the dough is cut into small squares, it becomes farfel. Both lokshen and farfel are usually boiled and served with soup.
Rosh Hashanah
On Rosh Hashanah, the Jewish New Year, a variety of symbolic foods are eaten:
- Apples and honey—for a sweet year for Ashkenazi Jews, Sephardic Jews serve cooked or baked Apple.
- Round Challah(for Ashkenazi Jews)
- Tzimmes(for Ashkenazi Jews)
- Teiglach(for Ashkenazi Jews)
- Honeycake
- Pomegranates– for a year of many blessings (as many as there are seeds in a pomegranate). Pomegranates are also mentioned multiple times in the Tanakh.
- Head of a fishor a mutton, for a successful year in which we are the “head,” not the “tail.”
- Leekfried cutlets, called “Karteh” (for Sephardic Jews).
- Chardfried cutlets, called “Salkeh” (for Sephardic Jews).
- Local type of zucchinicalled qara’a, made into sweet confiture (for Sephardic Jews).
- Algerian Jews serve a honey-dipped date pastry called makroudh.
