Cuisine of the Sephardic Jews

See also: Jewish cuisine, Cuisine of the Mizrahi Jews, and Israeli cuisine

Western Sephardi dish of pescado frito. The predecessor of Fish and Chips introduced in the 17th Century by Jews from Spain and Portugal, and is now also staple of British cuisine.

Moroccan-style pickled lemons

The cuisine of the Sephardi Jews is an assortment of cooking traditions that developed among the Jews of Spain and Portugal, and those of this Iberian origin who were dispersed in the Sephardic Dispora, and ultimately became the Eastern Sephardim and North African Sephardim as they settled throughout the Mediterranean in places such as Turkey, Greece, the Balkans, as well as the Arab countries of West Asia and North Africa,. Cuisine of the Sephardi Jews also includes the cuisine of those who became the Western Sephardim who settled in Holland, England, and from these places elsewhere.

Although Mizrahi Jews, being the pre-existing Jews of the Greater Middle East (who are of non-Spanish and non-Portuguese origins), are sometimes called Sephardim in a broader sense due to their style of liturgy, and although there is some overlap in populations due to the Sephardic Diaspora, the Sephardic Jews also settled in many other countries outside the Greater Middle East as well. As such, this article deals only with the cuisine of the Jewish populations with ancestral origins in the Iberian Peninsula, in whichever regions they settled, not just the Greater Middle East. For Cuisine of the Mizrahi Jews, please see that article.

As with other Jewish ethnic divisions composing the Jewish Diaspora, Sephardim cooked foods that were popular in their countries of residence, adapting them to Jewish religious dietary requirements. known as kashrut. Their choice of foods was also determined by economic factors, with many of the dishes based on inexpensive and readily available ingredients.

Animals deemed permissible as a source of meat had to be slaughtered in keeping with shechita, or Jewish ritual slaughter, which further involved its soaking and salting to remove blood. Hence, meat was often reserved for holidays and special occasions. Many Sephardi dishes use ground meat. Milk and meat products could not be mixed or served at the same meal. Cooked, stuffed and baked vegetables are central to the cuisine, as are various kinds of beans, chickpeas, lentils and burghul (cracked wheat). Rice takes the place of potatoes.

History

Couscous with vegetables and chickpeas

Sephardi Jews are the Jews of Spain and Portugal. These were expelled or forced to convert in 1492. Many of the expellees settled in North African Arabic-speaking countries, such as Morocco, Tunisia, Algeria and Libiya becoming the North African Sephardim. Those settling in Greece, Turkey, the Balkans, Syria, the Lebanon and the Holy Land, became the Eastern Sephardim. The Western Sephardim, also known more ambiguously as the Spanish and Portuguese Jews left Spain and Portugal as New Christians in a steady stream over the course of the next few centuries, and converted back to Judaism once in Holland, England, etc.

While the pre-existing Jews of the countries in which the settled (in the Greater Middle East, for example, are called "Mizrahim") are disting, the term Sephardi as used in "Sephardi cuisine" would refer only to the culinary traditions of those Jews with ancestral origins to the Jews of Spain and Portugal.

Both the Jews of the Iberian Peninsula and the pre-existing Jews of Morocco, Tunisia, Algeria, Bulgaria, Turkey, Syria, Egypt, Italy, and Greece into whose communities they settled adapted local dishes to the constraints of the kosher kitchen. Since the establishment of a Jewish state and the convergence of Jews from all the globe in Israel, these local cuisines, with all their differences, have come to represent the collection of culinary traditions broadly known as "Sephardi cuisine."

Cuisine basics

Rice-stuffed peppers

Sephardi cuisine emphasizes salads, stuffed vegetables and vine leaves, olive oil, lentils, fresh and dried fruits, herbs and nuts, and chickpeas. Meat dishes often make use of lamb or ground beef. Fresh lemon juice is added to many soups and sauces. Many meat and rice dishes incorporate dried fruits such as apricots, prunes and raisins. Pine nuts are used as a garnish.

Herbs and spices

In the early days, Sephardic cuisine was influenced by the local cuisines of Spain and Portugal, both under Catholic and Islamic regimes. A particular affinity to exotic foods from outside of Spain became apparent under Muslim rule, as evidenced even today with ingredients brought in by the Muslims.

Cumin, cilantro, and turmeric are very common in Sephardi cooking. Caraway and capers were brought to Spain by the Muslims and are featured in the cuisine. Cardamom ("hel") is used to flavor coffee. Chopped fresh cilantro and parsley are popular garnishes. Chopped mint is added to salads and cooked dishes, and fresh mint leaves ("nana") are served in tea. Cinnamon is sometimes used as a meat seasoning, especially in dishes made with ground meat. Saffron, which is grown in Spain is used in many varieties of Sephardic cooking, as well as spices found in the areas where they have settled.

Desserts and beverages

Date-filled ma'amoul

Tiny cups of Turkish coffee, sometimes spiced with cardamom, are often served at the end of a festive meal, accompanied by small portions of baklava or other pastries dipped in syrup or honey. Hot sahlab, a liquidy cornstarch pudding originally flavored with orchid powder (today invariably replaced by artificial flavorings), is served in cups as a winter drink, garnished with cinnamon, nuts, coconut and raisins. Arak is the preferred alcoholic beverage. Rosewater is a common ingredient in cakes and desserts. Malabi, a cold cornstarch pudding, is sprinkled with rosewater and red syrup.(all these dishes and ingredients constitute the adopted dishes of the local population where the Jewish population settled)

Pickles and condiments

Olives and pickled vegetables, such as cucumbers, carrots, cabbage, cauliflower, are a standard accompaniment to meals. Amba is a pickled mango sauce. Small pickled lemons are a Tunisian and Moroccan delicacy.

Shabbat and holiday dishes

Shabbat

Potato burekas at Mahane Yehuda market, Jerusalem

On Shabbat, the Jews of North Africa in Tunisia and Morocco serve chreime, fish in a spicy tomato sauce.

As cooking on Shabbat is prohibited, Sephardi Jews, like their Ashkenazi counterparts, developed slow-cooked foods that would simmer on a low flame overnight and be ready for eating the next day. The oldest name of the dish is "chamin" (from the Hebrew word "cham," which means "hot"), but there are several other names. Its Ashkenazi counterpart is called shalet or cholent. Shavfka is another Sephardi dish that has an Ashkenazi counterpart, namely kugle. Bourekas are often served on Shabbat morning. Pestelas, sesame-seed topped pastry filled with pine nuts, meat and onion, are also traditional.

Sambusak is a semicircular pocket of dough filled with mashed chickpeas, fried onions and spices associated with Sephardic Jewish cuisine. According to Gil Marks, an Israeli food historian, sambusak has been a traditional part of the Sephardic Sabbath meal since the thirteenth century.

Passover

Sephardi and Ashkenazi cooking differs substantially on Passover due to rabbinic rulings that allow the consumption of kitniyot, a category which is forbidden to Ashkenazi Jews. Sephardi Jews prepare charoset, one of the symbolic foods eaten at the Passover seder, from different ingredients. Whereas charoset in Ashkenazi homes is a blend of chopped apples and nuts spiced with wine and cinnamon, Sephardi charoset is based on raisins or dates and is generally much thicker in consistency.

Mina (known as scacchi in Italy) is a Passover meat or vegetable pie made with a matzo crust.

Rosh Hashana

Libyan Jewish fruit preserves for Rosh Hashana

At the beginning of the evening meals of Rosh Hashana, it is traditional to eat foods symbolic of a good year and to recite a short prayer beginning with the Hebrew words "Yehi Ratson" ("May it be Your will") over each one, with the name of the food in Hebrew or Aramaic often presenting a play on words. The foods eaten at this time have thus become known as "yehi ratsones". Typical foods, often served on a large platter called a Yehi Ratson platter, include: 1. Apples: dipped in honey, or baked or sometimes in the form of a compote called mansanada. 2. Dates 3. Pomegranates, or black-eyed peas 4. Pumpkin: in the form of savory pumpkin-filled pastries called rodanchas. 5. Leeks: in the form of fritters called keftedes de prasa. 6. Beets: usually baked and peeled 7. Head of a fish: usually a fish course with a whole fish, head intact.

It is also common to symbolize a year filled with blessings by eating foods with stuffing on Rosh Hashana such as a stuffed, roast bird or a variety of stuffed vegetables called legumbres yaprakes.

Yom Kippur

Customs for the first food eaten after the Yom Kippur fast differ. Iranian Jews often eat a mixture of shredded apples mixed with rose water called "faloodeh seeb." Syrian and Iraqi Jews eat round sesame crackers that look like mini-bagels. Turkish and Greek Jews sip a sweet drink made from melon seeds.

Hanukkah

Sephardic Hanukkah dishes include cassola (sweet cheese pancakes), buñuelos (puffed fritters with an orange glaze), keftes de espinaca (spinach patties), keftes de prasa (leek patties) and shamlias (fried pastry frills).

Other specialities

Baba ghanoush, Baklawa, Couscous, Falafel, Fazuelos, Ful, Haminados, Halva, Hummus, Kibbeh, Kubbana, Kubbeh, Lahoh, Malabi, Ma'amoul, Matbucha, Tunisian Mulukhiyah, Moroccan cigars, Moussaka, Mofletta, Pescado frito, Sabich, Sahlab, Shakshuka, Skhug, Sofrito, Stuffed cabbage, Tabbouleh, Tagine, Yaprah, Almadrote

Further reading

• Cooper, John, Eat and Be Satisfied: A Social History of Jewish Food, Jason Aronson Inc., New Jersey, 1993, ISBN 0-87668-316-2
• Gitlitz, David M. and Davidson, Dr. Linda Kay, A Drizzle of Honey : The Lives and Recipes of Spain's Secret Jews, St. Martin's Press, New York, 1999, ISBN 0-312-19860-4
• Goldstein, Joyce and Da Costa, Beatriz, Sephardic Flavors: Jewish Cooking of the Mediterranean, Chronicle Books, 2000, ISBN 0-8118-2662-7
• Marks, Gil, Encyclopedia of Jewish Food, John Wiley & Sons Ltd., Hoboken NJ, 2010, ISBN 0-470-39130-8
• Miner, Vivianne Alchech, and Krinn, Linda, From My Grandmother’s Kitchen: A Sephardic Cookbook, Gainesville, FL, Triad Publishing Company, 1984, ISBN 0-937404-23-3
• Roden, Claudia, The Book of Jewish Food: An Odyssey from Samarkand to New York, Knopf, New York, 2003, ISBN 0-394-53258-9
• Sternberg, Robert, The Sephardic Kitchen: The Healthful Food and Rich Culture of the Mediterranean Jews, Harper Collins, 1996, ISBN 0-06-017691-1