Jewish Food

[sparklekaz]

About Jewish Food

Jewish food is difficult to define. Over time, Jews have eaten many different types of foods, often no different from those of their gentile neighbors. Nonetheless, the foods Jews have eaten bear the stamp of the unique socio-economic and migratory patterns of the Jewish community, while also reflecting the Jewish dietary laws (kashrut) and other religious requirements; for instance, the prohibition against creating fire on the Sabbath inspired slow-cooked Sabbath stews in both Sephardic and Ashkenazic cuisine.

Jews and Food in the Ancient World

Seven types of produce are mentioned in Deuteronomy 8:8--wheat, barley, grapes, figs, pomegranate, olives, and dates. Legumes, wild plants, and meat--mostly mutton--were also eaten in biblical times. The dietary laws found in the Torah, and analyzed in detail in the Talmud, governed all eating in ancient years. The Torah and Talmud also enumerate other food-related laws, such as those related to the shmita or sabbatical year, during which all land must lay fallow.

Kosher Food

Many people incorrectly believe that "kosher" is a style of cooking but this couldn't be further from the truth. Kosher simply refers to foods that are prepared following the laws of kashrut (Jewish dietary laws) which does not dictate the style of foods eaten by Jews outside of prohibiting certain types of foods. As such, religiously observant Jews will only those those foods that are Kosher.

Now, to answer the question as to what foods Jews eat, this varies greatly depending on what part of the world said Jews are from. The types of foods eaten by Jews from Eastern Europe will be different from those in Southern Europe, from those in India, Northern Africa, Yemen, Iraq, Israel, etc.

Foods will even vary by region within the same part of the world, a dish that is eaten by Polish Jews may also be eaten by Russian Jews, however, the ingredients or how that specific dish is made will be different.

This being said, religiously observant Jews will only eat foods that are kosher. This means that the foods were prepared following kashrut (Jewish dietary laws).

The basic rules of kashrut are:

1. Land animals must have split hooves and chew their cud.
2. Fish must have scales and fins.
3. Birds must not be amongst the list of forbidden birds in the Torah and must not be hunters.
4. Meat and dairy cannot be combined in any way.
5. Consumption of blood is forbidden.

[gruntal]

Some people try to rationalize this by pointing out how ancient food handling left a lot to be desired by modern standards. And how G*d mercifully spared His people the misery of Trichonosis by outlawing pork. I think this completely misses the point. Kosher dietary laws and practices were suposed to be different on purpose just to attract attention but in a very positive way. As I understand animal cruelty was to be avoided even when eating them. In retrospect it is amazing how Jews could survive with as much grace and dignity as they did in we would consider barbaric times although the concept of blood sacrifice has not fared well for a long time.

Where I used to live there were a number of Jews and not surprisingly a number of eateries catering to same. I remember going to a local candy shop and looking for marshmellow thingies for my Mother. It was awkward because the usual ingredient of gellatin was derived from calves feet and that wasn't Kosher. Agar ager was okay but I guess seaweed jello wasn't so commonly available here so marshmellow chocolate Easter Eggs were rare at Helen Grace Chocolates in Bixby Knolls.

They say Lenin created a model Jewish community in the old U.S.S.R. by the state and the poor Jews there didn't have the luxery of consulting with an authentic Rabbi on what they were suposed to eat and the whole thing was a farce. Likewise in the colonies taxpayer supported Public Schools were found to be wanting for Jewish people wanting their kids to learn the Kosher way of life. Unless you went to a Jewish Academy the school cafeteria just wasn't putting out the right food to properly immerse you in all things Kosher.

Now we eat everything from pizza to egg foo young and it doesn't seem to effect us. Then again the sense of community or even ethnic bonding is dissapearing so I do wonder.

[chris86]

I am ment to use kosher salt in my chillies, its better for drawing out juices of the chilli in the fermentation process of making chilli sauce, this word kosher is popping up lately alot, and im curious to find out what its used for and why, many things? Or just coincidence?

[gruntal]

As I understand a Kosher food is just technically one supervised by a Rabbi in the production stage. It would also have certain ingredients and not others. So we have "piggie" hot dogs and Kosher all beef franks and even Loma Linda vegetarian wieners. Not to mention "organic" lettuces. When I was a kid they didn't use labels like that. But then at that time you were less likely to buy your food from a large supermarket and more likely to shop at the local ethnic grocery store where you lived.

The concept of ethnic food actually being better is a new marketing concept. Since so much now is produced by factories using sophisticated machines it can be a bit scary. ( I used to work in a fish cannery ). There is a valid point though: theoretically all food here is inspected by the FDA ( in the U.S.A. ) and is sanitary. But the presence of a Rabbi might connotate better quality food. Or more traditional ...and that might be reassuring.

[aceofcups]

my understanding

One reason why many different recipes call for Kosher Salt is nothing about religion etc and more about it size,,, it is a larger crystal... much less ground down then regular table salt and no iodine added to it. The iodine helps it not all clump together in salt shakers etc. The larger size of Kosher salt means that in a cup of kosher salt vs a cup of table salt... you use less salt persay.   Its larger size crystals helps it absorb liquid more which can help in cooking.