Holidays and Festivals Foods
Title
Holidays and Festivals Foods
Creator
Innovations in Jewish Life Collections
Date
2023
Contributor
Gregg Drinkwater, Hilary Kalisman, Samira Mehta, Maggie Rosenau
Rights
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Format
Portable Document Format
Language
English
Text
Foods associated with Jewish holidays and rituals are diverse and vary among different Jewish communities around the world. While many Americans associate classic Ashkenazi (central and eastern European) foods such as latkes (fried potato pancakes) with the holiday of Hanukkah, Sephardic Jews (descended from the Jews of medieval Spain) might instead eat cassola (sweet cheese pancakes) and bimuelos (the name in the Judeo-Spanish language of Ladino for Spanish bunuelos, or fried dough fritters).
Although Jewish holiday foods vary significantly around the world, the core ritual and liturgical source for many festive or holiday foods are the same. For example, Jews the world over avoid bread and leavened grains during Passover, eating non-leavened Matzah instead.
On Rosh Hashanah, or the Jewish new year, both Ashkenazi and Sephardic Jews eat festive and often sweet foods symbolic of a sweet and good year to come (such as apples in honey for Ashkenazi Jews, or dates and pomegranates for Sephardi Jews). And on Hanukkah, Ashkenazi latkes and Sephardic bimuelos are both fried in oil, symbolic of the oil used to light the Great Menorah in the ancient Temple in Jerusalem, part of the traditional story of why and how Hanukkah is celebrated.
Although Jewish holiday foods vary significantly around the world, the core ritual and liturgical source for many festive or holiday foods are the same. For example, Jews the world over avoid bread and leavened grains during Passover, eating non-leavened Matzah instead.
On Rosh Hashanah, or the Jewish new year, both Ashkenazi and Sephardic Jews eat festive and often sweet foods symbolic of a sweet and good year to come (such as apples in honey for Ashkenazi Jews, or dates and pomegranates for Sephardi Jews). And on Hanukkah, Ashkenazi latkes and Sephardic bimuelos are both fried in oil, symbolic of the oil used to light the Great Menorah in the ancient Temple in Jerusalem, part of the traditional story of why and how Hanukkah is celebrated.
Files
Citation
Innovations in Jewish Life Collections, “Holidays and Festivals Foods,” IJL Digital Exhibits, accessed May 3, 2024, https://embodiedjudaism.omeka.net/items/show/124.