Jewish Cuisine is the collection of cooking traditions of the Jewish people. It is a diverse cuisine that has evolved over many centuries, shaped by Jewish dietary laws (kashrut) and Jewish Festival and Sabbath traditions. Jewish cooking has also been influenced by the economics, agriculture, and culinary traditions of the many countries where Jewish communities have existed since Late Antiquity. Kashrut and holiday traditions provide unifying elements in the cuisine, while geographic dispersion has led to a diversity of styles.
Broadly speaking, the distinctive styles or cuisines in their own right that may be discerned in Jewish cuisine are: Ashkenazi (Central and Eastern European ), Sephardic (descendants of the Iberian Jews, including Italian, Greek, Turkish and Balkan), Mizrahi (North African, including Moroccan, Tunisian, Algerian and Libyan), Judeo-Arab (Lebanese, Syrian and Iraqi), Persian, Yemenite and Indian. There are also distinctive dishes from Jewish communities ranging from Ethiopia to Central Asia.
Furthermore, since the establishment of the State of Israel in 1948, and particularly since the late 1970s, a nascent Israeli "fusion cuisine" has developed, adopting and adapting elements of all the aforementioned Jewish styles, as well as incorporating other Middle Eastern fare; new dishes based on agricultural products introduced and grown since 1948; and other international cuisines.
Jewish cooking varies widely throughout the world due to the use of local ingredients, and local cultural influences have made their mark on Jewish cuisine, and in turn, Jewish cuisine has also influenced other cuisines as well, with several dishes commonly eaten by non-Jewish people throughout the world.
Influences on Jewish Cuisine
Kashrut - Jewish dietary laws
Main article: KashrutThe 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.
Observant Jews will eat only meat or poultry that is certified kosher: The meat must be slaughtered by a shochet (ritual slaughterer) in accordance with Jewish law and is entirely drained of blood. Before it is cooked it is soaked in water for half an hour, then placed on a perforated board and 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. Today, kosher meats purchased from a butcher or supermarket are usually already kashered and no additional soaking or salting is required.
Meat and poultry may not be combined with dairy products. This necessitates the use of two sets of utensils. Therefore, Orthodox Jews divide their kitchens into two sections, one for meat and one for dairy.
As a result, butter, milk and cream are not used in preparing dishes made with meat or intended to be served together with meat. Oil, pareve margarine, rendered chicken fat or non-dairy cream substitutes are used instead.
Geographical dispersion
The hearty cuisine of Ashkenazi Jews was based on centuries of living in the cold climate of central and Eastern Europe, whereas the lighter, "sunnier" cuisine of Sephardic Jews was affected by life in the Mediterranean region.
Each Jewish community has its traditional dishes, often revolving around specialties from their home country. In Spain and Portugal, olives were a common ingredient and many foods were fried in oil. The stereotypically "English" fish and chips, for example, the fried fish was introduced to England by Sephardi Jewish immigrants. 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 knaidel (matzoh ball) soup and various kinds of stuffed and stewed fish. In North Africa, Jews ate couscous and tagine.
Thus, a traditional Shabbat meal for Ashkenazi Jews might include roast beef, pot roast, or chicken; carrot tzimmes and potatoes; and a traditional Shabbat meal for Sephardi Jews would focus more on salads, stuffed vine leaves, couscous and other Middle Eastern specialties.
History of Jewish cuisine
Biblical era
Types of foods consumed
The preparation of the meal was a very simple process. Food staples were bread and milk, supplemented by fruits and vegetables. Many vegetables, such as cucumbers, garlic, leek and onions were eaten raw. Meat was generally reserved for festivals. Lentils or greens were boiled in water or oil. Fruit was often dried and compressed into solid, cake-like masses, making raisin-cake, fig-cake, etc.
Cereals were an important food in biblical times. The most common was wheat ( chitta ). Sometimes the grains were reduced to grits ( grisim ). The grain was generally ground into flour ( kemah ), or a more course flour called solet . The flour was made into bread, with or without leavening Barley ( se'orim ) was used like wheat, generally being made into bread.Spelt ( kussemet ) was used less than wheat or barley, but also made into bread. Porridge was made from ground cereal, water, salt, and butter. This porridge was also the basis for cakes, to which oil and fruits were added.
Lentils ( adashim ) were the principal legume. Cucumbers( melafefonim ) were eaten raw, or spiced with vinegar. Leeks, onions ( betzalim ) and garlic ( shumim ), were eaten raw with bread. The poor also used orach ( malluah ), the young leaves being either boiled or eaten raw.
There was an early fig ( bikkurah ) and a late fig ( te'enim ), the latter being generally dried and pressed into round or square cakes ( devela ). Grapes ( anavim ) were eaten either fresh, or dried as raisins ( tzimmukim ). They were also pressed into cakes. Olives ( zayit ) were probably prepared as they are today. Pomegranate ( rimmon ), the fruit of the mulberry tree ( shiḳmah ) eaten by the poor, and of the date palm ( tamar ), which is treated like figs and grapes; and, finally, pistachio nuts, almonds ( shḳeidim ), walnuts ( egoz ) and carob.
In ancient times much less meat was eaten in the Middle East than among Western peoples. It was served daily only at the king's table. Otherwise, animals were slaughtered only for major festivals ( cḥaggim ), at the yearly sacrificial feasts of families and tribes, at family festivals (such as circumcisions and weddings), for guests, etc. Furthermore, only certain kinds of animals were permissible as food. (see Dietary Laws). The most important animals for food were cattle, sheep, and goats, sheep ranking first. In addition to lamb, ("karim") fattened calves ( meri'im ) are often mentioned especially those that were fattened in the stall rather than in the pasture ( egel marbeḳ ). From early times the eating of meat was allowed on condition that the blood of the slaughtered animal be removed completely. Meat was usually simmered. The sauce in which it was cooked was considered a delicacy. The meat of the Passover lamb was roasted. It was cooked on the open fire, placed directly on the coals, or using a spit or grate.
Fish were fried, salted or dried in the sun. Fish were imported by Syrian merchants, some fish coming from Egypt, where pickled roe was an export article.
Milk of large as well as of small animals especially goat's milk, was a staple food. It was kept in skins. "Ḥem'ah," designating cream as well as bonnyclabber and cheese, is often mentioned. Cream is generally called "shefot", 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. Cheese ( gebinah ) made of sweet milk was probably also used. Honey ( debash ) is frequently mentioned in connection with milk. Whether this is the ordinary bee's honey flowing of itself out of the honeycomb ("nofet ha-ẓufim") that was especially relished or date honey is disputed among scholars. Honey seems to have been a favorite food of children.
The spices used by the ancient Israelites include cumin ( kammon ), dill ( ḳeẓaḥ ), mint, and mustard. Salt ( melaḥ ), was very important even in early times. To "eat the salt" of a person was equivalent to eating his bread, and a covenant of salt was inviolable.
Food preparation
In biblical times cooking was done by women, who also ground the flour for bread. Even women of rank engaged in cooking. The slaughtering and carving of meat was done by men. Kitchens were found only in the palaces of the wealthy. A special room for culinary purposes was not needed, as a primitive hearth consisted of a few stones upon which the pot was placed, with a fire lit underneath it on the mud floor. In later times mention is made of fire-basins kiyyor , and small, portable cooking-stoves, kirayim <
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