a nascent Israeli "fusion cuisine" has developed, adopting and adapting elements of all the aforementioned Jewish styles, new dishes based on agricultural products introduced and grown since 1948, and incorporating other Middle Eastern fare and international cuisines.

Influences on Jewish cuisine

Kashrut—Jewish dietary laws

The laws of keeping kosher (kashrut) have influenced Jewish cooking in two primary ways: by prescribing what foods are permitted and how food must be prepared.

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.

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 rice, millet, and lentils. Many kinds of fruit were eaten. There was a custom to eat apples during Shavuot,[10] while specific fruit and herbs were eaten on Rosh Hashana as a good omen. 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. Pickled fish was an important article of commerce, being called "garum" among the Jews, as among the Greeks and Romans. Pliny[11] 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.[12]

Structure of meal

The first dish was a pickled starter to stimulate the appetite,[13] followed by the main meal, which ended with a dessert, called in Greek θάργημα. Afikomen is used in the same sense. Tidbits (parperet) were eaten before and after the meal (Ber. vi. 6). Wine was flavored with myrrh[14] or with honey and pepper, the mixture being called conditum. There was vinegar wine,[15] wine from Amanus, and Cilicia,[16] red wine from Saron, Ethiopian wine,[17] and black wine.[18] Certain wines were considered good for the stomach, others not.[19] There was beer from Egypt called zythos[20] (Pes. iii. 1), and beer made from a thorn Spina regia.[21][22] Emphasis was placed on drinking with the meal as "eating without drinking means suicide".[23]

Middle Ages
Lokshenkugel
Yaprak stuffed vine leaves

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",[24] which was, perhaps, biscuit; according to the Siddur Amram,[25] 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",[26] mentions dishes that are good for health. He recommends bread baked from wheat that is not too new, nor too old, nor too fine,[27] 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.[28]

There is detailed information about Italian Jewish cookery in the book Massechet Purim. It discusses[29] 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.[30] In Egypt, however, meat, fish, and cheese were obtainable,[31] in Gaza, grapes, fruit, and wine.[32] Cold dishes are still relished in the East. Generally, only one dish was eaten, with fresh bread daily.[33]

Some Jewish dishes frequently mentioned in Yiddish literature from the twelfth century onward are brätzel,[34] lokshen,[35] pasteten,[36][37] fladen,[38] beleg.[39] Barscht or borshtsh soup is a Ukrainian beet soup,[40] best known are the berkes or barches eaten on Shabbat,[41] and shalet,[42] which Heine commemorates,[43] and which the Spanish Jews called ani. 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.[44]

Jewish cuisine variations
Ashkenazi
Fish
Gefilte fish

The Jewish love of fish goes back to ancient times.[45] 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, it can also be eaten with dairy products (although some Sefardim 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.[46]

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.[47] Strictly speaking they are the fish filling, rather than the complete filled fish.[48] This method of serving evolved from the tradition of removing the stuffing from the skin,[49] 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.

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.

Soups
Borscht with sour cream

A number of soups are characteristically Ashkenazi, one of the most common of which is chicken soup, traditionally served often on Shabbat, holidays, and special occasions. The soup may be served with noodles (lokshen in Yiddish), rice or soup almonds. Shkedei marak are popular in Israel. On Passover, this is replaced by kneidlach (matza balls), a mixture of matzo meal (ground matzos) eggs, water, melted fat, pepper and salt.

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 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.

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 referred to in jest as "Jewish penicillin," and hailed as a cure for the common cold.[citation needed]

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
Challah bread

The dough of challah 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 homentash, 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"). 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.

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.

The rendered fat of geese and chickens, known as schmaltz, is kept in readiness for cooking use when needed. Gribenes or "scraps," also called griven, the cracklings left from the rendering process were one of the favorite foods in Eastern Europe. Gribenes is eaten spread on bread.
[edit] Sweets and confections

Teiglach, traditionally served on Rosh Hashanah, the Jewish New Year, consists of little balls of dough (about the size of a marble) drenched in a honey syrup. Ingberlach are ginger candies shaped into small sticks or rectangles.

In Europe, jellies and preserves made from fruit juice were used as pastry filling or served with tea. Among the poor, jelly was reserved for invalids, hence the practice of reciting the Yiddish saying Alevay zol men dos nit darfen (May we not have occasion to use it) before storing it away.

Side dishes
Carrot tzimmes

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 used for tzimmes, particularly in Lithuania. In southern Russia, Galicia, and Romania tzimmes was made of pears, apples, figs, prunes or plums (floymn tzimes).

Kreplach, similar to Russian "pelmeni" are 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 eaten on various holidays, among them Purim and Hosha'na Rabbah.

Sephardi and Mizrahi
See also: Cuisine of the Mizrahi Jews and Cuisine of the Sephardic Jews
Stuffed Peppers
Potato burekas

The exact distinction between traditional Sephardic and Mizrahi cuisines can be difficult to make, due to the intermingling of the Sephardi diaspora and the Mizrahi Jews who they came in contact with. As a general rule, however, both types reflect the food of the local non-Jewish population that each group lived amongst. The need to preserve kashrut does lead to a few significant changes (most notably, the use of pareve olive oil instead of fleishig animal fat is often considered to be a legacy of Jewish residency in an area). Despite this, Sephardic and Ashkenazic concepts of kosher differ; perhaps the most notable difference being that rice, a major staple of the Sephardic diet, is considered kosher for Passover but is forbidden kitniyot for most Ashkenazim.

Sephardic cuisine in particular is known for its considerable use of vegetables unavailable to the Ashkenazim of Europe, including spinach, artichokes, pine nuts, and (in more modern times) squash. The cooking style is largely Middle Eastern, with significant admixtures of Spanish, Italian, and North African flavors.

Sephardic food has had little influence in the largely Ashkenazic populations of eastern and northern Europe and North America, though the Anglo-Jewish plava is thought to come from the Sephardic pan d'Espanya. Influence is growing because of the inter-marriage between both groups and the location of the State of Israel. Sephardic food has also become popular because of the fashion for the "Mediterranean diet", being considered healthier than the "heavier" Ashkenazic style.
[edit] Shabbat and holiday dishes
[edit] Shabbat
Chamin/Cholent

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 night. 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.[50]

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 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 Hashana
Five varieties of fruit preserves for Rosh Hashana, Libyan tradition: (clockwise from top): apple, quince, plum, squash, orange (in the center)

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

Apples and honey—for a sweet year
Round Challah (for Ashkenazi Jews)
Tzimmes (for Ashkenazi Jews)
Teiglach (for Ashkenazi Jews)
Honey cake
Pomegranates – for a year of many blessings (as many as there are seeds in a pomegranate). Also pomegranates are popular on this holiday because the number of seeds in the fruit—613—is the number of mitzvot[commandments] in the Torah.
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 hamafseket, usually consists of foods that are digested slowly and are not highly spiced, to make fasting easier and prevent thirst.

Sukkot
Latkes with smetana

On Sukkot meals are eaten outside in the sukkah, a thatched hut built specially for the holiday. Often fresh fruits are eaten also, which are woven into the roof of the thatched hut.
[edit] Chanukah

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

Latkes—Potato pancakes (may be topped with sour cream or applesauce) (Ashkenazi food)
Sufganiyot- Jelly doughnuts (in Israel)

Purim
Purim hamantaschen

Hamantaschen - triangular pastries traditionally filled with poppy seeds or prunes
Berkouks
Fazuelos

Passover
Handmade shmura matzo

Passover celebrates The Exodus from Egypt where it is said the Jewish people left so quickly, there was no time for their bread to rise.[51] Commemorating this event Jews eat matza and abstain from bread, cakes and other foods made with yeast and leavening agents. In modern times, rabbinical authorities permit the use of chemical leavening, such as baking powder. Matza is a staple food during the holiday and used as an ingredient of many Passover dishes. Matzah ball (kneidlach) soup is traditional. Fish is coated with matzo meal before frying, and cakes and puddings are made with potato starch and matza meal. Jewish cooks use both matzo meal and potato starch for pastries during Passover. Whisked whole eggs or egg whites are frequently used to make pastries without leavening agents, such as angel and sponge cakes (potato starch replacing cake flour) and coconut and almond macaroons.

Passover foods vary distinctly between Sephardic and Ashkenazic communities. Ashkenazim exclude rice, while it is served by Sephardim. Matzo is traditionally prepared from water and flour only, but there are other varieties, such as egg matzo, which may also contain fruit juice. At the seder, it is customary in some communities, particularly among strictly Orthodox Jews, to use handmade shmura 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 matzo meal and potato as thickeners. Potato flour is largely used in cakes along with finely ground matzo meal and nuts.
Soup with matzah balls

Popular Ashkenazi dishes are matzo brei (crumbled matzo with grated onion, fried with scrambled egg), 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 rolled 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.
[edit] Shavuot

Dairy foods are traditionally eaten on Shavuot.

Blintzes
Cheesecake

Tisha B'Av

Tisha B'av is a fast day, preceded by nine days when Jews traditionally do not eat meat, except on Shabbat. Thus dairy and vegetarian dishes are prepared during this time of year. The meal before the fast (the seudat mafseket) also consists of dairy foods and usually contains dishes made from lentils and eggs, both ancient Jewish symbols of mourning.[52] Some Ashkenazi Jews eat hard-boiled eggs sprinkled with ashes to symbolize mourning.


Appetizing store
Cuisine of Israel
Cuisine of the Sephardic Jews
Cuisine of the Mizrahi Jews
Delicatessen
Hechsher
List of Jewish cuisine dishes

References

This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: Jewish Encyclopedia. 1901–1906.

^ BCK Kosher Certification Agency—Kosher Kitchen
^ Enduring love | Food monthly | The Observer
^ a b Roden, Claudia (1997). The Book of Jewish Food. pp. 22–24.
^ Cooper, John (1993). Eat and Be Satisfied. pp. 15–16.
^ Miller, J. Maxwell; Hayes, John H (1986). A History of Ancient Israel and Judah. Louisville, KY: Westminster John Knox Press. pp. 51–53. ISBN ISBN 0-664-21262-X.
^ Feinberg Vamosh, Miriam (2007). Food at the Time of the Bible. pp. 12–13.
^ Hareuveni, Nogah (1980). Nature in Our Biblical Heritage. Israel: Neot Kedumim. ISBN 9652330027.
^ Cooper, John (1993). Eat and Be Satisfied. pp. 4–9.
^ Marks, Gil (2010). Encyclopedia of Jewish Food. pp. 70–71.
^ Targ. Sheni to Esth. iii. 8
^ "Hist. Naturalis," xxxi. 95
^ "Food—In Talmudic Times", The Jewish Encyclopedia (1901-1906), pg 432 [1]
^ Ber. vi. 7
^ Mark xv. 23
^ 'Ab. Zarah 30a
^ Tosef., Sheb. v. 223
^ B. Ḳ. 97b
^ Abba Gorion i. 9
^ Yer. Sheḳ. 48d.
^ Sometimes translated as purgative
^ Löw, "Aramäische Pflanzennamen," p. 231
^ Ket. 77b
^ Shab. 41a.
^ p. 60, ed. Hildesheimer
^ i. 38
^ Maimonides, "Sefer Refu'ot", ed. Goldberg, London, 1900
^ Maimonides, "Sefer Refu'ot", ed. Goldberg, London, 1900 p. 8
^ Maimonides, "Sefer Refu'ot", ed. Goldberg, London, 1900 p. 9
^ Abrahams, "Jewish Life in the Middle Ages," p. 151
^ "Jahrb. für die Gesch. der Juden," iii. 201
^ ib. 208
^ ib. 211
^ Jacob Safir, in "Eben Sappir," p. 58a, Lyck, 1866
^ Glassberg, "Zikron Berit," p. 122, Berlin, 1892
^ Abrahams, l.c. p. 152
^ ib. p. 151
^ Yoreh De'ah, Bet Yosef, § 97
^ Yoreh De'ah, ib.
^ Yoreh De'ah, Ṭure Zahab, § 101, 11
^ ib. § 96
^ Grünbaum, l.c. p. 229
^ Abrahams, l.c. p. 151
^ "Werke," i. 436
^ Barbara Kirshenblatt-Gimblett, "Kitchen Judaism," in Getting Comfortable in New York: The American Jewish Home, 1880-1950, edited by Susan L. Braunstein and Jenna Weisman Joselit (New York: The Jewish Museum, 1990), pp.75-105. (This article is also available, in pdf format, here.)
^ Numbers xi. 5
^ Попова, М. Ф., Секреты Одесской кухни, , Друк, Одесса, 2004, p.163 (Russian); Popova M.F., Secrets of Odessa kitchen, Druk, Odessa, 2004, p.163
^ Satz, Miriam, Heirloom cookbook: recipes handed down by Jewish mothers and modern recipes from daughters and friends, Kar-Ben, 2003, p.14
^ Goodman, Hanna, Jewish cooking around the World: gourmet and holiday recipes, Varda Books Skokie, Illinois, 2002, p.147
^ Garfunkel, Trudy, Kosher for everybody: the complete guide to understanding, shopping, cooking, and eating the kosher way, John Wiley & Sons, Inc., 2004, p.11
^ The Complete & Illustrated Guide by Rabbi Fishel Jacobs Sabbath
^ Exodus 12:34.
^ See Marks, The World of Jewish Cooking, pg 209