Jewish Food Culture

To gefilte fish, or not to gefilte fish: An Introduction to Jewish Food Culture.
By Stephanie Hahn
Section 4

Introduction
In a Jewish culture, food takes on all sorts of roles--traditional, social, and spiritual. Jewish food culture is an exclusive mixture of cooking styles that have evolved over centuries and their foods have been shown to have influences from the Middle East, the Mediterranean, Spain, Germany and Eastern Europe, all influenced by the unique dietary constraints of kashrut. Kashrut (pronounced to rhyme with wash-ROOT; usually translated as Kosher) is the name Jews give to laws that control what kind of food and food preparations styles that they may or may not eat and use. The Torah, Jewish holy books, explicitly states which animals are allowed or prohibited. For example, 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. (For a complete list of all Jewish Dietary Laws visit www.jewfaq.org (http://www.jewfaq.org/kashrut.htm)).

Two of a un-kind
There are two basic groups of Jews: Ashkenazic, and Sephardic. Ashkenazic Jews are from France, Germany, and Eastern Europe, while Sephardic Jews are from Spain, Portugal, North Africa and the Middle East. Secular American Jews would most likely be amazed to learn that much of what they think Jewish culture is really just Ashkenazic Jewish culture. Jews have lived many parts of the world and have developed many different customs. For example, Sephardic Jew’s diet does not consist of bagels and loxs, chopped liver, latkes, gefilte fish or matzah ball soup, unlike Ashkenazic Jews. Rather Sephardic Jews tend to eat bourekas, phyllo dough pastries filled with cheese or spinach.

Traditional Jewish Foods
Challah is a special kind of bread used for Shabbat and holidays. It is a very sweet, eggy bread with a golden color.

Gefilte fish is a cake or ball of chopped up fish. Usually made with white-fleshed freshwater fish. The fish, usually white-fleshed freshwater fish, is chopped into small pieces, mixed with onions and some vegetables (carrot, celery, parsley). The mixture is then held together with eggs and matzah meal. Then the mixture is boiled in broth until firm. Gefilte fish is served either warm or cold, with red horseradish and garnished with carrot shavings.

Matzah ball soup is generally a very thin chicken broth with vegetable and two or three ping-pong-ball sized matzah balls (or sometimes one very large matzah ball) in it.

Knish is a potato and flour dumpling stuffed with various things like mashed potato and onion, chopped liver, or cheese and then baked until browned and a little crisp on the outside.

Blintzes are a thin, flat pancake rolled around a filling; kind of looks like an egg roll.

Jewish Holidays and Culture
Jewish Holidays and the foods Jewish people cook for the holiday play an important role in Jewish culture. With each holiday different foods are prepared. For example, during Rosh Hashana, the Jewish New Year, a variety of symbolic foods are eaten, such as, Apples and honey - for a sweet year, Round Challah, Honey cake, Pomegranates – for a year of many blessings, and Fish, with head - for a successful year. During Chanukkah cooks serve fried foods, such as latkes or potato pancakes top with either sour cream or applesauce and serve Sufganiyot or jelly doughnuts for dessert.

Out with the old and in with the new
Lastly, along the way some traditions change. Last year, I was invited to one of my good friend’s Chanukkah celebration. I could not wait to pile my plate full of traditional Chanukkah foods, like beef brisket with gravy, potato latkes drench with as much applesauce and sour cream my latkes could hold, fried chopped chicken livers sandwiches, all types of knishes and of course my favorite, deep fried zucchini and cauliflower with ranch dipping sauce. But to my disappointment, all my favorite foods were replaced with healthier options. The beef brisket was still there just leaner and without gravy, the potato latkes were made with sweet potatoes and zucchini (although they were still fried), and my favorite, deep fried zucchini and cauliflower with ranch dipping sauce, was still at the party just not deep-fried or with a dipping sauce. This newer way of healthy cooking has become a huge trend among the health conscious Jewish community and is a tread that should keep on growing.

Sources:
http://www.jewfaq.org/kashrut.htm
http://www.jewfaq.org/food.htm
http://jewish-food.suite101.com/article.cfm/keeping_kosher_keeping_healthy
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chanukkah
http://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/jsource/Judaism/Ashkenazim.html