Ask A Jew: What are some of the Jewish food traditions related to celebration? Part 2

What questions do you have about Judaism? Submit them online, or fill out the form below. 

By Hyphen Parent

What are some of the Jewish food traditions related to celebration?

(Read part 1 one here)

The old joke is that most Jewish holidays can be summarized as, “They tried to kill us. We won. Let’s eat.”

Many Jewish holidays have specific foods associated with them. In the United States, the most well-known foods tend to be from Western European Jews (Ashkenazi), but different Jews from different areas have their own food traditions — often a blend of our history, tradition, and local cuisine.

The foods we eat are often symbolic and deeply rooted in our history, experience, and tradition.

There are three types of foods often associated with celebration: bread, wine and sweet foods. We have many blessings over different foods, but the full blessing for a meal can only be said if we eat bread as part of the meal. So challah (in various shapes and with different add ons) is often present at celebratory meals. Wine is considered a holy drink. It is specifically mentioned in the Torah and has always been used in Jewish celebrations. It even has its own specific blessing. Sweet foods are often eaten to remind us of the sweetness of an occasion.

Each Shabbat, we have challah (although flat breads are more common for Mizrahi Jews from the Middle East/North Africa) and wine. The baking and braiding of bread is an experience that many Jews remember fondly from their childhood. The way we bake and serve the two loaves of challah is symbolic of our history.

The Jewish year starts with Rosh Hashanah where the custom is to eat apples, honey, and round challah. Mizrahi Jews eat pastries made with spiced dates and foods sweetened with nutmeg and cinnamon. We eat round foods to symbolize that there is no end and no beginning. We eat sweet foods in the hopes of a sweet year. We eat new fruits (fruits that we have not yet eaten that season) and recite the Shehechianyu (a blessing of thanksgiving) to thank G-d for the privilege. Some Sephardic Jews have a Rosh Hashanah seder full of symbolic foods. The foods used and their symbolism varies by community.

A child’s third birthday marks the change from toddlerhood to childhood. Traditionally sweet foods are served and the child is often given a taste of honey while learning the aleph bet. The idea is to associate learning with sweetness.

Chanukah foods are often foods that are cooked in oil, to remind us of the miracle of the oil that lasted eight days. Ashkenazi Jews are known for latkes (fried potato pancakes). Sephardic Jews are often associated with fried jelly donuts called sufganiyot. Svinge, a fritter cooked in oil is better known among Mizrahi Jews.

Sometimes the reasons behind the foods are obvious. Other times, there’s no single explanation. We eat dairy on Shavuot—the holiday to commemorate the giving of the Torah. Blintzes and cheesecakes are common, but various rabbis have given a number of different explanations. There isn’t one common consensus. This tradition too varies among communities. Ashkanazi Jews often eat dairy meals all day. Sephardic Jews, however, often eat a dairy lunch and a meat dinner (Kashrut laws forbid eating dairy and meat together).

The symbolism of celebratory food is perhaps most obvious at the Pesach (Passover) seder. To commemorate our escape from Egypt, we have a ritual meal full of symbolic foods. On the seder plate, you will find a vegetable (often parsley), hard boiled egg, bitter herbs (often horse radish), a sweet mix (apples and nuts in Ashkenazi tradition; wine, dried fruit, and nuts in Sephardic and Mizrahi traditions), and a bitter vegetable or small bowl of salt water. While these are all part of the celebration, the symbolism behind them is not always happy. The parsley is dipped in salt water as a reminder of the tears shed in slavery. The egg is traditionally a food of mourning. The bitter herbs remind us of the bitterness of slavery. The sweet mixture is designed to remind us of the mixture used to make bricks in Egypt. We combine the sweet mix with the bitter herb between two pieces of matzah during the seder. The matzah represents freedom. The bitterness and sweetness are both contained within to remind us that our lives contain both.

Holidays have us not only making and eating specific foods, but also sharing them. During Sukkot, we dwell in temporary structures. It’s a mitzvah to invite someone into your sukkah for a meal. We give mishloach manot (often baskets of food) to others so that everyone has enough food for the Purim celebration. Guests are very often invited for Shabbat dinners.

Food is incredibly important in Judaism. The foods we eat (or avoid), the way we prepare food, sharing food, the symbolism of food are all very important. For Jews, food has the power to remind us, inspire us, separate us, or unite us.