How to Eat Authentic Jewish Cuisine

Authentic Jewish cuisine draws from many traditions. Jewish recipes follow kosher laws, which forbid pork and shellfish and mixing meat and dairy. Kosher meat must undergo special preparation to remove all of the blood from the animal. Some dishes are associated with a particular holiday.

Instructions

Difficulty: Easy

1. Find dishes from classic Jewish cuisine from the Ashkenazi tradition. These will be most familiar to you. They include blintzes (thin pancakes stuffed with potatoes, cheese, meat or vegetables), chopped liver and gefilte fish.
2. Try authentic Sephardic food for a change of pace. This officially refers to the cuisine of Spain and Portugal. Dishes are lighter than in the Ashkenazi tradition and include salads, stuffed vegetables, lentils, lamb and fruit dishes.
3. Get adventurous by eating Middle-Eastern dishes from places like Morocco, Egypt and Yemen. These contain more seasonings than Ashkenazi and Sephardic foods with tumeric, cumin, cardamom and coriander.
4. Be careful about the delis you patronize. Authentic Jewish deli cuisine is harder to find than you think. Besides the classic corned beef, roast beef and pastrami sandwiches, you'll find cheese blintzes, potato pancakes, and sweets like rugelach and cheese Danishes.
5. Eat honey-based dishes during the high holidays like cake, cookies and apples dipped in honey. Tzimmes, popular with the Ashkenazi Jews, uses cooked carrots as a base and can be sweetened with dried fruit and honey. The carrots also can compose part of the meal with meat and potatoes added.
6. Enjoy the traditional foods of Passover. Matza replaces leavened bread throughout the holiday. Light, fluffy matza balls are a delight in chicken or vegetable soup. Compote of stewed dry fruit makes a healthy dessert.
7. Look for authentic dishes during Jewish holidays like Hanukkah, Purim and Shavuot. Sufganyot (donuts) and latkes (potato pancakes) are classic cuisine during Hanukkah. Hamentashen, triangle-shaped cookies with fruit filling, are an important part of Purim. Shavuot is a time for dairy dishes like blintzes and cheesecake.

Tips & Warnings

• Many familiar words like knish, kugel and schnitzel are Eastern European in origin and don't reflect the rich traditions of authentic Jewish cuisine.
• The best bread for a deli sandwich is toasted rye.
• Flavored matza is a modern innovation, so eat the plain one for an authentic Passover meal.