The Jewish cuisine has been formed both by the
dietary laws of kashrut ("keeping kosher") and
the many cultures in which Jews have travelled.
Thus the Jewish cuisine has influences from the
cuisines of the Balkans, Galicia, Russia, Spain,
Portugal and the Middle East. For example, there
are a number of cold starters which originate in
the Middle East and which were brought by the
Turks to the Balkans.
The roots of
Jewish cooking, however, are in the Middle
East, where the Jews came from, and it was
heavily influenced by the cuisine of Ancient
Egypt and the Byzantine Empire. It has been
suggested, for example, that the major role
played by garlic, leek and onions in Jewish
cooking is due to these influences. Arab and
Moorish cooking had an equal influence on
the Jewish cuisine.
At the same time, aspects of Jewish cooking
were often adopted by the cultures in which
they lived. The rose jam which is typical of
Russian and Galician cookery, for example,
may have originally been imported by Jews
during the golden age of Jewish culture in
Spain.
As other Semitic peoples, the Jews have
dietary laws; the basic laws of kashrut are
in the Biblical book of Leviticus. Food not
in accord with Jewish law is termed treifah
or treif (טרפה) ("torn"); according to
Orthodox and Conservative Judaism, Jews are
only allowed to
eat kosher. |
