There is a biblical injunction to tell your children, but the sages who created the Seder several thousand years ago understood that it had to be more than just speaking: that in order for something to connect so emotionally in human beings, it had to be relived.
Food is never static; culture is never static.
In Judaism, almost every ritual entails either food or the absence of food. Yom Kippur, for instance, is the absence of food. Part of it is Talmudic, part of it is custom. So much of Judaism was bound up in dietary laws. So everything you ate - the very act itself - was part of religion.
If I'm doing an olive oil tasting, I would do a very lean bread: an Italian style or pita bread. You want the flavor of the oil to shine; you don't want the bread or anything else to mask it.
I tend to avoid cakes made with matzo meal instead of flour. Also, most prepared dessert products and mixes. Sometimes the packaging they come in tastes better than the product.
My family is notorious for its sweet tooth.
Passover is the most widely observed of all the Jewish holidays, and the Passover Seder... is the most practiced of all the Jewish rituals.
I have been collecting recipes and information for over 20 years, but three years ago, my editor said to me, 'You're a walking encyclopedia of food, so why don't you do an encyclopedia?'
Throughout history, Hanukkah was a relatively minor festival, but it's become very popular in America due to its proximity to Christmas.
I don't understand a mentality that will accept eating something that doesn't taste good just because it's low-fat or is made with matzo or whatever.
Although I generally avoid the cloyingly sweet wines, I have used them for poaching fruit.
Food is sort of like the Jewish sense of humor, a defense mechanism. It is one of the things that helped the Jews survive through 2,000 years of an often very harsh Diaspora.
The knish is a classic example of peasant food evolving into comfort food and even sophisticated fare.
Each Passover, I prepare all sorts of fancy desserts for my family and friends, often experimenting with adaptations of sophisticated modern fare.
The more things you make from scratch, the less expensive and usually healthier and tastier.
I never serve a dessert on Passover that I would not serve the rest of the year.
One of the keys to Jewish culinary history is that the Jewish role was not so much innovation but transition and transformation.
Throughout history, particularly in the last 2,000 years, Jews have been key in adapting local foods to Jewish sensibilities and dietary laws and then spreading them.
The key to Judaism's survival is the emotional attachment to the religion.
To know a community is to know its food.
