Jewish New Year Food
Many people know about the custom of eating apples dipped in honey on rosh hashanah but there are many more food related customs for the jewish new year.
Jewish new year food. Pomegranate apples and honey. Rosh hashanah ראש השנה is the jewish new year. The torah the jewish scroll that contains the first five books of the tanakh consists of 613.
מ א כ ל י ר אש ה ש נ ה rosh hashanah foods are all symbolic. Over the centuries it has become associated with many food customs for instance eating sweet food to symbolize our hopes for a sweet new year. So among yiddish speakers carrots symbolize the desire for increased blessings in the new year.
The challah traditional jewish egg bread has a little extra sugar in it raisins and is shaped in the round to signify the continuous cycle of life. Sweet foods are popular to symbolize the sweet year we hope will follow. In more recent years the dish has become a fish head and for some just a fish dish to abide by more modern day eating standards.
It was once customary to eat the head of a ram or other animal that follows jewish dietary laws to symbolize the head of the new year and starting off ahead of the rest. They are called ס ימ נ ים si ma nim meaning symbols because each symbolizes a wish or a blessing for the coming new year. Our recipes for the rosh hashanah feature essential foods and ingredients that are symbolic and meaningful in jewish culture such as leeks pomegranates carrots honey and apples.
As with any jewish holiday rosh hashanah is celebrated according to the jewish calendar this year on september 9 th and is full of traditional food. Rosh hashanah is the jewish new year and the holiday falls in september or early october. Please your vegetarian guests with a vegetarian moroccan carrot and chickpea tagine and finish the meal with a delicious pareve carrot cake with cream cheese frosting.
In addition to dipping the apple in the honey jewish people also frequently eat honey cake pomegranates and round raisin loaves of challah to see in the new year. Symbolic foods of the jewish new year. We also eat apples dipped in honey and often apple or honey cakes for dessert.