Traditional Jewish Foods

Learning about traditional Jewish foods is to learn a little about the traditional foods of many different cultures. Traditional Jewish food takes its influences from the places where Jews have lived over the centuries, including the Middle East, Spain, Germany and others. In fact, many foods that people think of as Jewish are not unique to the Jewish culture, but they actually come from one particular region or another; Jewish cooks have put their own spin on these dishes.

Kosher

Many people are familiar with the concept of "keeping kosher," but often may not know much about what the term actually means. The laws of keeping kosher heavily influence both what foods are permitted and how they are prepared. The most well-known fact is that pork and shellfish are forbidden. There are also guidelines as to how kosher animals are slaughtered and how the cook is allowed to prepare the meat. Meat and dairy are not allowed to mix, which means that a Jewish kitchen usually has two sets of utensils, and Orthodox households might even have a completely divided kitchen to keep these separate.

Familiar Jewish foods

There are some Jewish foods that most people are familiar with, such as Challah bread. Typically braided, this bread begins almost every traditional Jewish meal. Bagels and cream cheese or lox (smoked salmon) is so common that it is a bit of a stereotype. Gefilte fish, a cake of chopped fish and matzah ball soup, made of matzah balls (dumplings) in chicken broth, are also familiar to many people.

Lesser-known Jewish foods

There are many Jewish dishes that are not familiar to others. Some of these include blintzes, similar to crepes, cholent, a beef and potato stew, and holishkes, or stuffed cabbage.

Traditional Jewish foods are many and widely varied. In fact, there are as many variations as there are regions where the Jewish peoples have lived.