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Some families break the fast with tea and cake, and then sit down for a meal. A light dairy repast is considered healthier after a day of fasting, but some people eat a full course meat meal.


===After Yom Kippur===
===After Yom Kippur===

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Jewish cuisine is not one unified cuisine, but rather a collection of international cookery traditions linked by the Jewish dietary laws (kashrut) and Jewish holiday traditions. Certain foods, notably pork and shellfish, are forbidden; meat and dairy are not combined, and meat must be ritually slaughtered and salted to remove all traces of blood. Wine and bread have special rituals associated with them. Due to the wide geographic dispersion of the Jews, Jewish cooking is extremely varied, with the availability of ingredients and local influences leaving their mark on how the food is prepared and presented.

Regional differences

See the main article on the cuisine of the Ashkenazi Jews and the cuisine of the Sephardic Jews.
A Jewish shop in the traditionally Jewish neighbourhood of Le Marais, a district in Paris, France.

Except for a few traditional dishes that date from before the Roman expulsion of the Jews from the Land of Israel (such as matza, which may be served in any Jewish household worldwide), Jewish cuisine often reflects the general style and practices of the local cuisine, adding unique recipes and cultural infusions, along with adaptations to the rules of kashrut.

The hearty cuisine of Ashkenazi Jews, for example, reflects their centuries of residence in the cold climate of central and eastern Europe. The lighter, "sunnier" cuisine of Sephardic Jews, by contrast, reflects that group's long residence in the Mediterranean area.

Thus, a traditional Sabbath meal for Ashkenazi Jews might include roast chicken, carrot tzimmes and potatoes; and a traditional Sabbath meal for Sephardi Jews would focus more on salads, stuffed vine leaves, couscous and other Middle Eastern specialties.

Each Jewish community has its traditional dishes, often revolving around specialities from their home country. In Spain and Portugal, olives were a common ingredient and many foods were fried in oil. The "English" fish and chips, for example, was introduced to England by Sephardi Jewish immigrants [1]). In Germany, stews were popular. The Jews of Netherlands specialized in pickles, herring, butter cakes and bolas (jamrolls). In Poland, Jews made lokshen (noodle) or frimsel soup (cooked with goose fat) and various kinds of stuffed and stewed fish. In North Africa, Jews ate couscous and tagine.

Differences continue along regional lines, so that Galitzianers prefer sweeter dishes and Litvaks use more savory seasoning, causing the geographical line between the two groups' home countries to be dubbed the "Gefilte Fish Line."[2]

Specialities of Jewish cookery

Some typical Jewish dishes are:

Bagels

Jewish traditional cuisine on the Jewish calendar

Shabbat

Two Challah loaves covered by a traditional embroidered Shabbat challah cover

On Friday evening, the Shabbat meal might consist of:


On Shabbat day, many families eat cholent, usually a stew of meat, beans, barley and potatoes (although the variations are endless) that is put up to boil before the candles are lit on Friday night, and left on a hotplate or in a slow oven, overnight.

Rosh Hashana

On Rosh Hashana, the Jewish New Year, a variety of symbolic foods are eaten:

  • Apples and honey - for a sweet year
  • Round Challah
  • Carrot Tzimmes
  • Teiglach
  • Honey cake
  • Pomegranates- for a year of many blessings (as many as there are seeds in a pomegranate)
  • Fish, with head - for a successful year in which we are the "head," not the "tail."

Yom Kippur

Yom Kippur is a fast day. The pre-fast meal, called "seuda mafseket," usually consists of foods that are digested slowly and are not highly spiced, to make fasting easier and prevent thirst.

Some families break the fast with tea and cake, and then sit down for a meal. A light dairy repast is considered healthier after a day of fasting, but some people eat a full course meat meal.

After Yom Kippur

Some families break the fast with tea and cake, and then sit down for a meal. A light dairy repast is considered healthier after a day of fasting, but some people eat a full course meat meal.

Sukkot

On Sukkot meals are eaten outside in the sukkah, a thatched hut built specially for the holiday. Some families dip apples in honey before the meal, in a continuation of the Rosh Hashanah tradition. Some families decorate the sukkah with the Seven Species and prepare dishes based on these foods.

Hanukkah

It is customary to eat foods fried in oil to celebrate Hanukkah. Eating dairy products was a custom in medieval times.

  • Latkes - Potato pancakes (may be topped with sour cream or applesauce)
  • Sufganiyot- Jelly doughnuts

Purim

Passover

It is forbidden to eat chametz (leavened foodstuffs, such as yeast breads) during the holiday of Passover.

Shavuot

Tisha B'Av

Tisha B'av is a fast day, preceded by nine days in which many religious Jews refrain from eating meat. Thus halacha (Jewish law) dictates that one eat a dairy meal on the eve of the fast. Additionally, at the "seudat mafseket" (final meal before the fast begins) it is customary among Ashkenazi Jews, to eat foods that symbolise mourning, including boiled egg, bagels and a small sprinkling of ashes.

Meal composition

As noted, Jewish culinary tradition tends to reflect local or ancestral culture, and so it is with meal order.

Therefore, a typical Ashkenazi meal for a festive occasion like the sabbath or a holiday would follow European lines, beginning with a forspeis or appetizer, such as gefilte fish or chopped liver, followed by soup, and perhaps a salad, then a main course of meat, starch and vegetable, with dessert to follow. Wine would be served with any celebratory meal.

Influences

Historically, the stringency of the dietary laws combined with the peculiar domesticity of Jewish life to make cooking the special business of Jewish wives and daughters. Among the poor, necessary frugality combined with the dietary laws to produce recipes that stretched available protein and used every available morsel (thus the use of chicken fat as a cooking oil in meat dishes). Among the affluent, no housewife would have thought of relegating the preparation of meals to a servant. Only by attending to them herself or closely supervising could she satisfy her conscience that such ritual requirements as the "kashering" of meat, the keeping apart of butter and meat, and the separation of challah (the bread-offering) had been duly complied with.

Passover cookery

Passover is a Jewish holiday, celebrating the exodus from Egypt, to become free people in the Promised Land. Because they wanted to flee Egypt fast, they didn't bake the bread long enough for it to rise. This new bread was called "matza". And so, it was ordained that Jews do not eat leavened bread during Passover. The commandment to abstain from eating yeasted breads, has had the natural effect of developing many special kinds and methods of cooking appropriate to that period.

The unleavened bread is not merely a staple article of food, but an ingredient of many Passover dishes (except in households that also refrain from gebrokts during Passover). Matza ball (kneidlach) soup takes the place of noodle soup for this week; fish, instead of being fried in a breadcrumb batter, is cooked with matzo meal; and an immense variety of sweet cakes and puddings manufactured from ground matza meal, replaces the pastries of ordinary occasions.

Jewish cooks make use both matza meal and potato starch for pastries during Passover. Whisked eggs are also used to create food with a light consistency.

No beer or malt liquor is consumed on Passover, and, for Ashkenazi Jews, soft drinks such as Coke and Pepsi, which use corn sweeteners, must be reformulated to contain sugar.

Passover foods vary in Sephardi and Ashkenazi communities. Ashkenazim exclude rice, while it is served by Sephardim. Some Jews do not eat soaked Matzot on the first night of Passover or even throughout the holiday. Matza is traditionally prepared from water and flour only, but there are other varieties, such as egg matza, which may also contain fruit juice. At the seder, it is customary to use handbaked shemura matzo, which has undergone particularly strict kashrut supervision.

The exclusion of leaven from the home has forced Jewish cooks to be creative, producing a wide variety of Passover dishes that use matza meal and potato as thickeners. Potato flour is largely used in cakes along with finely ground matzo meal and nuts.

Popular Ashkenazi dishes are matzah brei (fried crumbled matzo with grated onion), matzo latkes (pancakes) and khremzlakh (also called crimsel or gresjelies; matzo meal fritters). Wined matzo kugels (pudding) have been introduced into modern Jewish cooking. For thickening soups and sauces at Passover fine matzo meal or potato flour is used instead of flour: for frying fish or cutlets, a coating of matzo meal and egg, and for stuffing, potatoes instead of soaked bread.

"Noodles" may be made by making pancakes with beaten eggs and matzo meal which, when cooked, are rooled up and cut into strips. They may be dropped into soup before serving. matzo kleys - dumplings - are small balls made from suet mixed with chopped fried onions, chopped parsley, beaten egg, and seasonings, dropped into soup and cooked.

In oriental countries and in old Jerusalem sheep-tail fat was prepared for Passover. Oriental Passover dishes are fahthūt (Yemenite) - a soup stew made with matzo meal - and Turkiah minas and mahmuras - layers of matzo with fillings of cheese, vegetables or meat. In Sephardi homes haroset is served as a treat and not just as a tasye. The khreyn (horseradish relish) originating as an Ashkenazi Passover dish, is popular all the year round.

Fish

Gefilte fish

The Jewish love of fish goes back to ancient times (see Numbers xi. 5). With kosher meat not always available, fish became an important staple of the Jewish diet. In eastern Europe, it was a luxury, reserved for the Sabbath. As fish is not considered meat, it can also be eaten with dairy products. Even though fish is parve (neither meat nor dairy), when fish and meat are served at the same meal, some Orthodox Jews will use separate utensils. Gefilte fish and lox (smoked salmon) are popular in Jewish cuisine.

Kashrut

Observant Jews will not eat meat or poultry unless it is certified kosher: In addition to having been slaughtered by a shochet (ritual slaughterer) in accordance with Jewish law, the meat must been entirely drained of blood. Before it is cooked, it is soaked in water for half an hour. Then it is 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.

Meat and poultry may not be combined with dairy products. This necessitates the use of two sets of utensils. Some Orthodox Jews take this prohibition to the extreme, dividing their kitchens into two sections, one for meat and one for dairy, or even building separate kitchens.

Butter, milk or cream cannot be used in preparing dishes made with meat or served together with meat. Oil, parve (non-dairy) margerine, melted chicken fat or parve cream substitutes are used instead.

Sabbath preparations

As observant Jews may not cook on the Sabbath, various techniques are used to provide hot food for the day of rest. A common dish, "cholent," consists, generally, of meat with potatoes and beans, which is placed in a slow oven before Sabbath and left to simmer unattended until it is wanted for the Sabbath meal.

A prominent feature of Sabbath 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 dish for Saturday was called p'tsha in Lithuania. This consists of cow's or calf's leg combined with water, seasoning and onions and slowly cooked in the oven like cholent. When it is removed from the oven on Saturday, it is either served hot, or hard-boiled eggs are sliced into it, and it is put in a cool place to jell into a semi-solid mass. In a similar dish, called drelies in south Russia, Galicia and Romania, soft-boiled eggs and some vinegar are added as soon as it is removed from the oven, and it is served hot.

The kugel, a kind of casserole, is another Shabbat favorite, particularly, lokshen kugel, made of noodles, often with raisins and spices. Other kugels are compounded of rice, potatoes, carrots, etc.

Traditional lokshen consist of flour and eggs made into dough, rolled into sheets, and then cut into long strips. Cut into small squares, these strips are called farfel. They are usually boiled and served with soup.

Eastern Europe

Most of the dishes cooked by the Jews in Eastern Europe are akin to those of the nations among whom they dwelled. 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 peculiarly Jewish dishes.

Tzimmes consists generally of cooked vegetables or fruits, sometimes with meat added. The most popular vegetable is the carrot (mehren tzimes), which is sliced. Turnips were also extensively used for tzimmes, particularly in Lithuania. In southern Russia, Galicia, and Romania tzimmes was made of pears, apples, figs, prunes or plums (floymn tzimes).

Soups include krupnik, made of oatmeal, potatoes, and fat. This was the staple food of the poor students of the yeshivot; in richer families meat was added to this soup.

Kreplach also stem from Eastern European Jews. These ravioli-like dumplings are made from flour and eggs mixed into a dough, rolled into sheets, cut into squares and then filled with finely chopped, seasoned meat or cheese. They are served in soup. Kreplech are usually eaten on Purim, on the day preceding Yom Kippur and on Hosha'na Rabbah.

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.

Gefilte (filled fish) was traditionally made by cutting fish into parts. The bones were taken out, the skin removed, and the flesh chopped fine and mixed with eggs, salt, pepper, and onions. This mass is then replaced in the skin, dropped into fish broth and simmered. Modern preparations omit the skin, making quenelles.

Soups

Matzo balls in soup

A number of soups are more or less characteristically Jewish. The soup into which kneidlach (matzo balls or dumplings) are put, is the dish used most often on Saturdays, holidays, and other special occasions, particularly at Passover. The kneidlach in most cases are made by combining matzo meal (ground matzos) eggs, water, melted fat, pepper and salt. This mixture is then rolled into balls simmered in water and then put into soup. Sometimes kneidlach are fried in fat or cooked with pot roast. Another kind of kneidlach, made from mashed potatoes put into warm milk, formed a well-liked soup among Lithuanian Jews.

In a number of soups, in the preparation of which neither meat nor even 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.

Because of its nutritious qualities, one soup, made by putting crisp "beigel" (round cracknel) into hot water and adding butter, was called michyeh, a corruption of the Hebrew word "miḥyah" (i.e., food κατ' ἑξοχέν; compare the Latin "victus").

There are a number of sour soups, called borscht, the most popular of which is the kraut or cabbage borscht, typically made by cooking together cabbage, meat, bones, onions, raisins, sour salt (citric acid), sugar and sometimes tomatoes. Before serving, the yolks of eggs might be mixed in. This last process is called farweissen (to make white). Borshtsh is also made from beets and rossel (the juice derived from fermented beets).

Gebrattens (roasted meat), chopped meat, and essig fleish (vinegar meat) are favorite meat recipes. The essig or, as it is sometimes called, honnig or sauer fleish, is made by adding to meat which has been partially roasted some fish-cake, sugar, bay-leaves, pepper, raisins, sour salt and a little vinegar.

The rendered fat of geese and chickens is is kept in readiness for cooking use when needed. Gribenes or "scraps," also called grieven, the cracklings left from the rendering process were one of the best liked foods among the Jews of eastern Europe. They were eaten especially at Hannukah.

Jews of eastern Europe bake both black ("proster," or "ordinary") bread and white bread, or ḥallah. Of great interest are the various forms into which these breads are made; for while the black bread is usually circular in form, the shapes in which ḥallah is baked vary as the different holidays pass by. The most common form of the ḥallahs is the twist ("koilitch" or "kidke"). 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.

Bread and cakes

Plate of Jachnun, a Yemenite Jewish Sabbath bread

The dough of hallah is often shaped into forms having symbolical meanings; thus on New-Year rings and coins are imitated, indicating "May the new year be as round and complete as these"; for Yom Kippur (Day of Atonement) the hallah, which on that occasion is circular, carries a piece of dough in imitation of a dove, the significance being "May our sins be carried away by the dove." Hallah is also baked in the form of a ladder for Yom Kippur, expressing thereby the desire, "May our prayers climb up to heaven"; 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 Haman tash, a kind of a turnover filled with honey and black poppy-seed, is eaten on the Feast of Purim. It is shaped like the hat of Haman the tyrant.

The mohn kihel, a circular or rectangular wafer having in it a quantity of poppy, forms a part of the Sabbath breakfast. Pirushkes, or turnovers, are little cakes fried in honey, or sometimes merely dipped in molasses, after they are baked. The strudel, or single-layered jelly or fruit cake, takes the place of the pie for dessert. Teigachz, or pudding, of which the kugel is one variety, is usually made from rice, noodles, "farfel" (dough crums), and even mashed potatoes. Gehakte herring (chopped herring). which is usually served as the first dish at the Sabbath dinner, is made by skinning a few herrings and chopping them together with hard-boiled eggs, onions, apples, sugar, pepper, and a little vinegar.

Savories and candies

Teiglach and ingberlach are the two popular home-made candies. The teiglach are made by frying in honey pieces of dough about the size of a marble, the dough being mixed with sugar and ginger. The ingberlach are ginger candies made into either small sticks or rectangles. Jellies are made from all juices of fruits, and are used for different purposes; they are used in making pastry and are often served with tea. Among the poorer classes jellies are reserved for the use of invalids and patients, and so well has the practise of making jelly solely for that purpose been established, that often the words "Allewai zol men dos nit darfen" (May we not have occasion to use it) are repeated before storing it away.

History

Food

There are two main divisions of food, vegetable and animal.

Vegetable food

As among all the Oriental peoples, and as is the case even today among the fellaheen of Syria, vegetable food, and chiefly grain ("dagan"), occupied the first place in the diet of the Israelites.

Cereals: The most important of the cereals was wheat ("ḥiṭṭah" or "ḥittim."). (For the earliest mode of preparing this, see Baking; Bread; Cookery; and comp. "Z. D. P. V." ix. 3.) The grains were at times reduced to grits ("geres"); hence the prescription that "'abib ḳalui" and "geres karmel"—probably "geres" of garden grains, which are palatable and mature especially early—should be offered as "minḥat bikkurim." The grain was generally ground into flour ("ḳemaḥ"), the fine flour ("solet") being distinguished from the ordinary kind. The flour was made into bread, either without leavening ("maẓẓah") or with it ("leḥem"; Lev. vii. 13). Barley ("se'orim") was used like wheat (comp. II Sam. xvii. 28), being generally made into bread (comp. Judges vii. 13; II Kings iv. 42; Ezek. iv. 9, 12). Spelt ("kussemet") was apparently used much less than wheat or barley. It appears, however, from Ezek. iv. 9 that, besides millet, spelt also was made into bread.

Vegetables ("yaraḳ," because raised in the "gan ha-yaraḳ" or garden; also "'eseb"; "orah," I Kings iv. 39; or "zer'onim," Dan. i. 16): Lentils ("'adashim") were the principal vegetable, which many considered especially toothsome (comp. Gen. xxv. 29 et seq.) There were several kinds of beans ("pol"); two kinds are known at present in Syria, Egypt and Southern Europe (comp. "Z. D. P. V." ix. 4). Beans were occasionally made into bread.

Cucumbers were manifestly also much used; even today the poorer inhabitants in the large cities of the Middle East, as Damascus and Cairo, live largely on bread and cucumbers or melons. Cucumbers ("ḳishshu'im"; Num. xi. 25) are generally eaten raw, or made into a salad with vinegar. The popular watermelon ("abaṭṭiaḥ"; Num. xi. 5; to-day called "baṭṭikh") also belongs to the cucumber species.

Num. xi. 5 mentions leeks ("ḥaẓir," which were especially esteemed in Egypt), onions ("beẓalim"), and garlic ("shumim"), all belonging to the Allium genus. They were generally eaten raw with bread. Today in Syria ripe onion-bulbs are pickled like cucumbers and eaten as a relish with meat (comp. "Z. D. P. V." ix. 14). From Job xxx. 4 it is clear that the poor also used orach ("malluaḥ"), the young leaves being either boiled or eaten raw.

Fruit: There was an early fig ("bikkurah") and a late fig ("te'enim"), the latter being generally dried and pressed into round or square cakes ("debelah"). Grapes ("'anabim," "esḥkol anabim") were eaten either fresh, or dried as raisins ("ẓimmuḳim"); they were also pressed into cakes (I Sam. xxv. 18). It is doubtful whether the Israelites knew of grape-syrup, though the fact that the Arabic "dibs," corresponding to the Hebrew "debash," is used to designate both the natural and this artificial honey or syrup, shows that they probably knew the latter (Gen. xliii. 11; Ezek. xxvii. 17). Olives ("zayit") were probably eaten, as today, both raw and prepared.

Mention may also be made of the pomegranate ("rimmon"; Deut. viii. 8; Song of Songs iv. 3); the fruit of the mulberry fig-tree ("shiḳmah") eaten by the poor, and of the date palm ("tamar"), which is treated like figs and grapes; and, finally, pistachio nuts ("boṭnim"), almonds ("sheḳedim"), and walnuts ("egoz"). The fruit of the carob (κεράτιον) was used, while not quite ripe, for flavoring water, though it was not a food proper. The Israelites may have known apples, although the word "tappuaḥ" is of doubtful signification (see Apple).

Spices: The spices used by the Israelites include cumin ("kammon"), dill ("ḳeẓaḥ"), mint (ἡδνοσμόν), and mustard (σίναπι). Salt ("melaḥ"), of course, was very important even in early times. To "eat the salt" of a person was equivalent to eating his bread (comp. Ezra iv. 14); a covenant of salt was inviolable (comp. Num. xviii. 19; II Chron. xiii. 5).

Animal food

In ancient times, as today, much less meat was eaten in the Middle East than among Western peoples. It was served daily only at the king's table (I Kings v. 3), and there because sacrifices were offered every day. Otherwise, animals were probably slaughtered only for the great festivals ("ḥaggim"), at the yearly sacrificial feasts of families and tribes, at family festivals (such as circumcisions and weddings), for guests, etc. (comp. Gen. xviii. 7; II Sam. xii. 4). Furthermore, only certain kinds of animals were permissible as food, the restrictions dating back to very early times. For details see Dietary Laws.

Animals: The most important animals for food were cattle, sheep, and goats, sheep ranking first (comp. I Sam. xxv. 11, 18; II Sam. xii. 4; Amos vi. 4; Isa. liii. 7). In addition to lambs ("karim"; Amos vi. 4), fatted calves ("meri'im") are often mentioned (Isa. i. 11; Amos v. 22; I Kings i. 19, 25), especially those that were fatted in the stall, as distinguished from cattle in the pasture ("'egel marbeḳ"; Amos vi. 4; Jer. xlvi. 1; Mal. iv. 2).

From early times the eating of meat was allowed on condition that the blood of the slaughtered animal be taken to the altar, the meat not being eaten with the blood (comp. I Sam. xiv. 33 et seq.); thus every slaughtering became in a certain sense a sacrifice, this being changed only when the worship was centralized by the Deuteronomic legislation. Meat was generally boiled (Ex. xxiii. 19; Judges vi. 19; I Sam. ii. 13; Ezek. xxiv. 3, xlvi. 20), though sometimes it was roasted, usually, perhaps, on the spit (I Sam. ii. 15; Ex. xii. 8). Game was considered as a delicacy (Gen. xxvii. 7).

Fish: Little is known of fish as food (Num. xi. 15), it being mentioned but rarely (Jer. xvi. 16; Ezek. xlvii. 10; Eccl. ix. 12). Yet there can be no doubt that it was a favorite diet. Fish were fried, and prepared with honeycomb. They were probably more generally eaten in post-exilic times. The fish-market, where fish, salted or dried in the sun, were sold, was probably near the fish-gate (compare Zeph. i. 10; Neh. iii. 3, xii. 39; II Chron. xxxiii. 14). According to Neh. xiii. 16, fish were imported by Syrian merchants, some fish coming from Egypt, where pickled roe was an export article. In later times fish were salted even in Palestine (comp. the name "Tarichea," lit. "pickling").

Milk, Cheese, and Honey: Milk, of large as well as of small animals, especially goat's milk, was a staple food (Deut. xxxii. 14; Prov. xxvii. 27). It was kept in skins (Judges iv. 19). "Ḥem'ah," designating cream as well as bonnyclabber and cheese, is often mentioned (Prov. xxx. 33). Cream is generally called "shefot" (II Sam. xvii. 29), though this reading is uncertain. It was frequently offered as a present, carried in cylindrical wooden vessels; and, sprinkled with sugar, it was eaten out of little dishes with wooden spoons (comp. Riehm, "Handwörterb." pp. 1715 et seq.). Cheese made of sweet milk was probably also used ("ḥariẓe he-ḥalab"; I Sam. xvii. 18, this passage in any case showing that "ḥalab" designated curdled as well as ordinary milk). The proper designation for cheese is "gebinah" (Job x. 10).

Honey ("debash") is frequently mentioned in connection with milk. Whether this is the ordinary bee's honey - that flowing of itself out of the honeycomb ("nofet ha-ẓufim") was especially relished (Ps. xix. 11; Prov. xvi. 24) - or date honey is disputed among scholars [8]. According to Isa. vii. 15, honey seems to have been a favorite food of children.

Hardly anything is known of the price of food in ancient times. At the period of the composition of II Kings vii. 1, 16, the worth of one seah of fineflour or two seahs of barley was one shekel. In Men. xiii. 8 the price of an ox, a calf, a ram, and a lamb is given as 100, 20, 8, and 4 denarii respectively (comp. Matt. x. 29).

Cooking utensils

Among the ancient Hebrews cooking was naturally entrusted to the women of the household (compare I Sam. viii. 13), as was also the task of grinding the flour required for daily use, and that of preparing the bread. Even ladies of rank thought it no degradation to cook, and Princess Tamar is said to have displayed special skill in preparing certain articles of food (II Sam. xiii. 8). The slaughtering and the dressing of meat were done by the men (Gen. xviii. 7; I Sam. ix. 23, ii. 14 et seq.), who also understood how to prepare food (Gen. xxv. 29; II Kings iv. 38).

Kitchens were found only in the palaces of the wealthy, a particular room for culinary purposes being scarcely requisite, since the primitive hearth consisted merely of a few stones upon which the pot was placed, and beneath which a fire was lighted on the mud floor (for oven, see Baking). In later times mention is made of fire-basins, (kiyyor, Zech. xii. 6), and of a species of small, portable cooking-stoves, "kirayim" (Lev. xi. 35; in the Talmud the singular is used); the latter, according to the Mishnah, was so constructed as to afford space for two pots.

Wood (often in the form of charcoal) and dried dung were used as fuel, and a draft was made by means of a fan, "menafah" (Kil. xvi. 7), as in the Orient at the present day. Fire-tongs, "melqachayim" (Isa. vi. 6) and shovels, "ya'im" (I Kings vii. 40), also formed part of the equipment.

In addition to the hand-mill, an indispensable adjunct of the Hebrew kitchen, were two large earthen jugs, called "kad," one of which was for carrying water (Gen. xxiv. 15 et seq.; I Kings xviii. 34), the other for storing meal or corn (I Kings xvii. 12). Milk and wine were preserved in goat-skins ("chemet", Gen. xxiv. 15, and elsewhere; "nod," Judges iv. 19, and elsewhere); oil and honey, in small earthen or metal jugs, "tzappachat" (I Kings xvii. 12, etc.); fruits and pastry, in various kinds of Baskets.

The "dud," "kiyyor," "qallachat", "parur", "sir", and "tzelachah" ("tzallahat") are mentioned as vessels for cooking, but their specific uses are unknown. The sanctuaries were amply provided with these dishes and bowls (Num. lxxi. 3 et seq.; I Kings vii. 45, 50), which, as might be expected, were usually of bronze, silver, or gold (Jer. lii. 19); in the homes, however, metal vessels were found in great number only among the wealthy. As these vessels were introduced by the Phenicians (I Kings vii. 13 et seq.), whose artisans long continued to supply the Hebrew market, it is safe to assume that their forms were similar to those of the Phenician utensils.

Among the common people and for daily use, it was customary to employ earthen vessels (Lev. vi. 21), the receptacle most frequently mentioned being the sir, a pot in which usually the family meal was cooked, and in which occasionally the sacred meat was prepared (II Kings iv. 38 et seq.; Ex. xvi. 3; Zech. xiv. 20, and elsewhere). It sometimes served also as a ewer (Ps. lxix. 10). For baking cake, etc., a tin plate ("machabat barzel", Ezek. iv. 3; Lev. ii. 5) or a deep pan ("marchešet") was used (Lev. ii. 7). Mention is also made of three-pronged forks, which were used, not for eating with, but for lifting the meat from the pot (I Sam. ii. 13). Knives were used for slaughtering animals, and for dressing the meat ("ma'akelet," Gen. xxii. 6, 10).

Cookery

The preparation of the meal was in ancient times a very simple process. The principal articles of diet were bread and milk, to which were added, as supplementary dishes, fruits and vegetables (compare Baking and Milk). Meat was eaten only on festivals; and many vegetables, such as cucumbers, garlic, leek, onions, etc., were eaten raw.

Lentils (Gen. xxv. 29; II Sam. xvii. 28) or greens (II Kings iv. 38 et seq.) were boiled in either water or oil. Fruit was often dried and compressed into solid, cake-like masses, making raisin-cake, fig-cake, etc. (I Sam. xxv. 18, xxx. 12; II Sam. xvi. 1, etc.; compare the "ḳamr al-din," or flat cake of compressed apricots, still popular among the Syrians); and a kind of sirup, or Honey ("debash") was sometimes extracted from it.

A kind of porridge was made from corn by adding water, salt, and butter ("'arisah," probably the "'arsan" of the Talmud, which was a paste prepared of crushed and malted grain); and from this many kinds of cakes were made with oil and fruits (II Sam. xiii. 6 et seq.; Num xi. 8; Ex. xxix. 2, etc.; see the importance of these cakes in later sacrificial ceremonies, as mentioned, for example, in Lev. ii.).

Meat, in ancient times, was usually boiled, and was consequently thus served at the table of Yhwh (Judges vi. 19; I Sam. ii. 15). The sauce in which it was cooked was also relished ("maraḳ," Judges vi. 19; perhaps also "merḳaḥah," Ezek. xxiv. 10). That the custom of boiling a young lamb or a kid in milk—still prevalent among the Arabs—existed among the ancient Hebrews, is proved by the prohibition of the custom in Ex. xxiii. 19.

The word , which may also signify "roasting," is usually applied to cooking in the sense of "boiling." It is reported of the wicked sons of Eli that they preferred roasted to boiled meat (I Sam. ii. 15). The meat of the Passover lamb was usually roasted; and indeed the custom of roasting ("ẓalah") became ever more prevalent. As among all the nations of antiquity, it was effected at the open fire, either by placing the meat directly upon the coals (compare the roasting of the fish mentioned in John xxi. 9), or by using a spit or grate, which appurtenances, though not specifically mentioned in the Old Testament, may reasonably be supposed to have been employed. Even in Genesis (xxvii. 6 et seq.) it is stated that Rebekah could prepare the flesh of a kid so that it tasted like venison; and from this statement a certain degree of culinary skill may be inferred. The progress of civilization, bringing about increased importation of provisions, materially contributed to the refinement of the culinary art among the Hebrews (compare Food).

In Talmudical times

Merely a few of the many data in the Talmud that throw a clear light on the private life of the Jews can be mentioned here. Bread was the principal 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 rice, millet, and lentils ('Er. 81a). Bread with milk was greatly relished. The inhabitants of Maḥuza in Babylon ate warm bread every day (compare Shab. 109a). Morning bread that was eaten with salt is mentioned (B. M. 107b; compare Ab. vi. 4). Wheat bread makes a clear head, ready for study (Hor. 13b). The same result is obtained, according to another reading, from bread baked over coals (ib.). Breadbakers are often mentioned, rabbis also following that trade.

Meat

Meat was eaten only on special occasions, on Sabbaths and at feasts. The pious kept fine cattle for the Sabbath (Beẓah 16a); but various other kinds of dishes, relishes, and spices were also on the table (Shab. 119a). A three-year-old calf with its kidneys was considered excellent (ib. 119b). Nor were the tongues of animals despised (Yalḳ. Makiri to Prov. xviii. 21). Deer, also, furnished meat (Bek. iv. 29b; Ḥul. 59a), as did pheasants (Tosef., Kil. i. 8), chickens (Shab. 145b), and pigeons (Pes. 119b). Fish was eaten on Friday evening in honor of the Sabbath (compare Grünbaum, "Gesammelte Aufsätze zur Sprachund Sagenkunde," p. 232); sometimes it was prepared in milk (Ḥul. 111b). Pickled fish was an important article of commerce, being called "garum" among the Jews, as among the Greeks and Romans. Pliny ("Hist. Naturalis," xxxi. 95) says expressly of a "garum castimoniale" (i.e., kasher garum) that it was prepared according to Jewish law. Locusts were eaten, though without blessing, as they signified a curse. Eggs were so commonly eaten that the quantity of an egg was used halakicly as a measure. The egg was broken (Ṭ. Y. iii. 2) and occasionally dipped in wine (Ḥul. 6a). The unsalted yolk of an egg eaten on ten successive days causes death ("Alphabeta di-Ben Sira," ed. Steinschneider, p. 22b). A regular meal consisted of chicken stuffed with meal, fine bread, fat meat, and old wine (ib. 17b). The Talmudic axiom, "Without meat there is no pleasure; hence meat is indispensable on feastdays," is well known.

Dinners

As regards other dishes, the Jews were acquainted with most of those known in antiquity. The first dish was an entrée—something pickled, to stimulate the appetite (Ber. vi. 7); this was followed by the meal proper, which was ended with a dessert, called in Greek θάργημα. Afiḳomen is used in the same sense. Titbits ("parperet") were eaten before as well as after the meal (Ber. vi. 6). Wine was an important item. It was flavored with myrrh (compare Mark xv. 23) or with honey and pepper, the mixture being called "conditum." There were vinegar wine ('Ab. Zarah 30a), wine from Amanus, and Cilicia (Tosef., Sheb. v. 223), red wine from Saron, Ethiopian wine (B. Ḳ. 97b), and black wine (Abba Gorion i. 9). Wine in ice came from Lebanon. Certain wines are good for the stomach; others are not (Yer. Sheḳ. 48d; see Wine). There was Median beer as well as a beer from Egypt called "zythos" (Pes. iii. 1), and beer made from a thorn (Spina regia; Löw, "Aramäische Pflanzennamen," p. 231; Ket. 77b). To eat without drinking means suicide (Shab. 41a).

Fruits and vegetables

Fruit was always relished, and many kinds, Biblical as well as non-Biblical, are often mentioned. A certain kind of hard nut even the wealthy could not procure (Pesiḳ. 59b). The custom of eating apples on the Feast of Weeks (Targ. Sheni to Esth. iii. 8) belongs to those minute observances that are so numerous in Jewish life. In the same way fruit and herbs were eaten on New-Year's eve as a good omen (Hor. 12a). Children received especially on the evening of Passover nuts and roasted ears of corn (B. M. iv. 12; Pes. 119b). Olives were so common that they were used as a measure ("zayit"). "While olives produce forgetfulness of what one has learned, olive-oil makes a clear head" (Hor. 13b). "Bread for young men, oil for old people, and honey for children" (Yoma 75b).

Herbs occupied a chief place on the evening of Passover, and they were also a favorite dish on the Sabbath (Ta'an. 20b), being eaten either dry or soaked (Tosef., Sheb. iv. 6). Many vegetables were included in the comprehensive name "ḳiṭniyyot" (Beẓah 12b; compare 'Uḳ. i. 5), especially beans. Other vegetables were cucumbers, melons, cabbages, turnips, lettuces, radishes, onions, and garlic. The smell of garlic, frequently mentioned in later times in association with the Jews, is referred to in the Talmud (Sanh. 11a).

Talmudic as well as Biblical times give evidence of a healthy, happy view of life. Sweets eaten during meals are frequently mentioned (B. M. vii. 1; Esth. R. i. 9). There is a saying of Rab (Abba Arika) that a time will come when one will have to render an account for all that one has seen and not eaten (Yer. Ḳid. 66d). It is said, however, of Abba Arika that, after having had all the precious things of life, he finally ate earth. Eliezer b. Hyrcanus is also reported to have eaten earth (compare the "geophagi" [earth-eaters] of the ancient authors). There is hardly any difference in food between Palestine and Babylon; only some details referring to the ritual are mentioned (Müller, "Ḥilluf Minhagim," Nos. 19, 67).

In the 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 Halakot Gedolot knew some dishes that appear to have been peculiar to the Jews, e.g., "paspag" (p. 60, ed. Hildesheimer), which was, perhaps, biscuit; according to the Siddur Amram (i. 38), 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" (ed. Goldberg, London, 1900), mentions dishes that are good for health. He recommends bread baked from wheat that is not too new, nor too old, nor too fine (p. 8); 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 white, hard meat is wholesome; so also are wine and dried fruits. Fresh fruits, however, are unwholesome; and he does not recommend garlic or onions (p. 9).

There is detailed information about Italian cookery in the amusing little book "Masseket Purim." It discusses (according to Abrahams, "Jewish Life in the Middle Ages," p. 151) pies, chestnuts, turtledoves, pancakes, small tarts, gingerbread, ragouts, venison, roast goose, chicken, stuffed pigeons, ducks, pheasants, partridges, quails, macaroons, and salad. These are dishes of luxurious living. The oppressed medieval Jews fared poorly rather than sumptuously, indulging in joyous feasts only on Sabbaths, festivals, circumcisions, and weddings. For example, the Jews of Rhodes, according to a letter of Obadiah Bertinoro, 1488, lived on herbs and vegetables only, never tasting meat or wine ("Jahrb. für die Gesch. der Juden," iii. 201). In Egypt, however, meat, fish, and cheese were procurable (ib. 208); in Gaza, grapes, fruit, and wine (ib. 211). Cold dishes are still relished in the East. Generally, only one dish was eaten, with fresh bread daily (Jacob Safir, in "Eben Sappir," p. 58a, Lyck, 1866).

Some characteristically Jewish dishes are frequently mentioned in the Judæo-German dialect: from the twelfth century onward, "brätzel" (Glassberg, "Zikron Berit," p. 122, Berlin, 1892); "lokshen" (Abrahams, l.c. p. 152); "pasteten" (ib. p. 151; compare Yoreh De'ah, Bet Yosef, § 97); "fladen" (Yoreh De'ah, ib.); "beleg" (i.e., goose sandwich), still used (Yoreh De'ah, Ṭure Zahab, § 101, 11). The favorite "barscht" or "borshtsh" soup is a Polish dish (ib. § 96); best known are the "berkes" or "barches" eaten on the Sabbath (Grünbaum, l.c. p. 229), and "shalet" (Abrahams, l.c. p. 151), which Heine commemorates ("Werke," i. 436), and which the Spanish Jews called Ani. The Sabbath pudding ("kigl" or "kugel" in Yiddish) is also well known. For more detailed information on several of these dishes see Cookery.

References

  •  This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: Singer, Isidore; et al., eds. (1901–1906). The Jewish Encyclopedia. New York: Funk & Wagnalls. {{cite encyclopedia}}: Missing or empty |title= (help)

Bibliography of Jewish Encylopedia

For the Middle Ages
Güdemann, Gesch. des Erziehungswesens . . . bei den Juden, iii. 112, and passim;

Glossary

See also

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