These Traditional Passover Foods Are Perfect for Seder (2024)

FAQs

What is the traditional food for Passover Seder? ›

The actual Seder meal is also quite variable. Traditions among Ashkenazi Jews generally include gefilte fish (poached fish dumplings), matzo ball soup, brisket or roast chicken, potato kugel (somewhat like a casserole) and tzimmes, a stew of carrots and prunes, sometimes including potatoes or sweet potatoes.

There are at least five foods that go on the seder plate: shank bone (zeroa), egg (beitzah), bitter herbs (maror), vegetable (karpas) and a sweet paste called haroset. Many seder plates also have room for a sixth, hazeret (another form of the bitter herbs).

This is the seder plate, and each food is symbolic for an aspect of Passover: A roasted shank bone represents the Pescah sacrifice, an egg represents spring and the circle of life, bitter herbs represent the bitterness of slavery, haroset (an applesauce-like mixture with wine, nuts, apples, etc.)

According to the Torah, we are supposed to eat matzo and abstain from eating wheat, barley, rye, spelt, and oats for the eight days of Passover. The category of foods called kitniyot (corn, rice, and beans) have also been off limits for many Ashkenazi families.

The Passover Seder is a ritual feast at the beginning of the Jewish holiday of Passover. It is conducted throughout the world on the eve of the 15th day of Nisan in the Hebrew calendar (i.e., at the start of the 15th; a Hebrew day begins at sunset).

This is a festival which remembers the escape of the ancient Israelites from Egypt. Jesus and his disciples were celebrating the Passover meal together. As this was the last meal that Jesus would share with his disciples, he took elements of the Passover meal and made them symbols of his death.

The Passover seder meal usually begins with a hard-boiled egg dipped in salt water. Then, the rest of the meal features matzah ball soup, brisket, and even matzah lasagna in some communities. Dessert often includes ice cream, cheesecake, or flourless chocolate cakes.

A brisket is classic, but we've included some other impressive roast meats, like chicken, rack of lamb, and salmon too. Side dishes—like our cranberry apple quinoa salad, our potato kugel, and chicken matzo ball soup—are also represented.

Do you eat off the Seder plate? ›

Don't touch the food on the Seder plate, a large dish that holds a shank bone, parsley, bitter herbs, a hard-boiled egg, charoseth and matzo. "Some of it is symbolic and is never eaten," says Sachs. "Some of it is eaten, but only at proscribed times during the Seder.

Choose a Special Seder Plate

You'll then place the six items – a boiled egg; parsley; a shank bone; two types of bitter herbs (often horseradish and Romaine lettuce); and a fruit and nut chutney called charoset — in a circle formation on the Seder plate.

Catholics, Baptists, Lutherans, Episcopalians, Methodists and other Christian groups celebrate Passover on the Thursday before Easter, known as Maundy Thursday, Holy Thursday, or the Last Supper observance. When it occurs is tied to the date of Easter which varies.

During Passover, Ashkenazi Jews traditionally stay away from not only leavened foods like bread, namely barley, oats, rye, spelt, and wheat, but also legumes, rice, seeds, and corn. The ban has been in place since the 13th century, but it's always been controversial.

There are a few traditions regarding the arrangement of items on the seder plate. Most commonly, the maror is placed in the middle of the plate. The hazeret is at the six o'clock position followed by, moving clockwise, karpas (seven o'clock), beitzah (11 o'clock), z'roa (one o'clock), and haroset (five o'clock).

The fourth cup of the Passover meal, the final cup that concludes the meal, the one from which he did not drink. But Jesus would drink the fourth cup: on the cross. Let's look at John's account: “After this, aware that everything was now finished, in order that the scripture might be fulfilled, Jesus said, 'I thirst.

Which means the seder can range from under 30 minutes (followed by a leisurely meal) to literally all night long. Traditionally, the seder has two parts: readings and rituals for before the meal is served, and readings and songs that follow the meal.

If the Last Supper was a Passover dinner, held by Jews then as now to commemorate the exodus from Egypt, the meal would have likely included lamb. Scripture provides us with another clue: unleavened bread and wine were also on the menu.

Seder plate: The seder plate (there's usually one per table) holds at least six of the ritual items that are talked about during the seder: the shankbone, karpas, chazeret, charoset, maror, and egg.

The Torah's Book of Exodus, Chapter 12, offers one description of the instructions for Passover fare: “The Lord said to Moses and Aaron in the land of Egypt: [Each household] shall eat [lamb] roasted over the fire, with unleavened bread and with bitter herbs” (Jewish Publication Society translation).

What are the five forbidden foods on Passover? ›

The tradition goes back to the 13th century, when custom dictated a prohibition against wheat, barley, oats, rice, rye and spelt, Rabbi Amy Levin said on NPR in 2016.

During Passover, Ashkenazi Jews traditionally stay away from not only leavened foods like bread, namely barley, oats, rye, spelt, and wheat, but also legumes, rice, seeds, and corn. The ban has been in place since the 13th century, but it's always been controversial.

Matzo is itself typically made of wheat flour mixed with some water, and salt and sometimes olive oil for flavor. It's rolled very thinly and baked quickly at a high temperature. Talmudic tradition dictates that matzo should be completed in under 18 minutes, from mixing the dough to fully baked.