Food: An Integral Part of Passover & Easter
How culture and religion shape our eating habits
Inspiration comes from many places. A few weeks ago I read three books in 36 hours, resulting in pages and pages of notes and ideas for my book. More recently, my inspiration came from the religious celebrations surrounding me. Culture is a huge factor in what we eat and for many religion is a major part of their cultural identity. I was thinking about food choices when I prepared my first seder and had my extended family over for a seder. At the same time, many of you were sitting down to beautiful Easter feasts.
These two holidays are forever intertwined. The books of Mark, Mathew, and Luke all describe Jesus’ Last Supper as a Passover Seder. Most depictions of the Last Supper include the 12 disciples reclining, saying prayers over the wine and bread — all major components of a seder. It feels so natural when Seder and Easter overlap and not just because eggs play a central role in both holidays.
Many holidays have traditional foods, think about Thanksgiving. For me, Passover is a lot like Thanksgiving. The meal (the seder) has an abundance of foods we traditionally eat, as well as prohibited foods.
Sedar translates to “order”. This meal has a strict order that we follow. First, we light candles, then we wash…
