Food and eating play an important role in many aspects of Judaism. There is no such thing as a single recognisable Jewish cuisine. Jews have tended to adopt and adapt the cuisines of the countries where they live. Jewish food is fusion food. I am most familiar with the style of food favoured by East European Jews, which tends to be economical (in that little is wasted) and strongly flavoured - pickled and salted foods are favourites eg. salt beef, pressed ox tongue, pickled herring, pickled cucumbers and salted herring.

The variety of foods that may and may not be eaten are governed by the laws of Kashrut but beyond this, many Jewish festivals and other events have particular dishes or foods associated with them and many Jewish communities have their own traditional cuisines. The subject is far too wide for a proper treatment here so I am just including some notes..

Perhaps the most important Jewish food custom is that of kiddush. This is the sharing of wine and bread that begins each meal, whether it be on Shabbat, at festival, at a family celebration. At kiddush, Jews thank G-d for wine and bread and those things are shared by all present.

Festival foods

Rosh Hashanah: This is the Jewish New Year, which usually falls in September. At this time we eat foods which remind us of the cycle of the year, of G-d's bounty and of our hope for a good and sweet year ahead. Traditional New Year foods include apples (round) dipped in honey (sweet), honey cake and pomegranates (our good deeds should be as many as the seeds). Instead of the usual plaited chollah loaves with which we usually begin a sabbath or festival meal we use round loaves.

Yom Kippur: It's a strict fast! No food or water for 25 hours!

Sukkot: Sukkot is the festival of the fruit harvest so fruit is the order of the day - particularly fruits that grow in the Middle East, such as dates.

Chanukah: On Chanukah we celebrate the miracle of the oil, when a single day's consecrated oil kept the everlasting lamp alight for 8 days after the Maccabees had been recovered the Temple in Jerusalem from the Syrians. So foods cooked in oil are traditional at this time. Favourites include doughnuts and potato latkes (pronounced luttk'z) which are flat round cakes made of grated potato.

Purim: Purim celebrates the escape of the Jews from genocide planned by a Persian vizier of long ago. His name was Haman and a favourite food at Purim is Chumantashen (literally, Haman's ears). They are small turnovers, usually filled with poppy seeds but can be filled with anything, eg, dates, figs etc. A tradition in my family (and maybe in others, too) is to eat chickpeas with a light sprinkling of pepper - we call them Purim peas (they are best hot, but can be eaten cold).

Pesach: The feast of matzoh (unleavened bread). There are special, extra strict dietary rules for Pesach. We must avoid anything that has fermented, or might have fermented (except wine) and avoid wheat flour (except when it is made into matzo by a special superquick process to avoid any danger of the flour fermenting - less than 18 minutes between grinding the flour and finishing the baking). Ashkenazi custom is not ot have rice either. Because we are celebrating our escape from slavery and persecution in Egypt we do like to eat cake. A favourite is plava, a light crumbly, sponge-like cake made with potato flour and ground almonds.

Shavuot: Originally the celebration of the wheat harvest, Shavuot is now the time when we celebrate the giving of Torah on Mount Sinai. We celebrate the richness of Torah for both body and soul by eating foods sweetened with honey (honeycake again) and by eating milk and cheese dishes such as cheesecake, cheese blintzes (pancakes with cream cheese rolled inside).

Foods for Other Occasions

Sabbat: Shabbat is the most important Jewish "festival" and happens weekly. The Torah tells us that on the seventh day of creation G-d rested and that He has commanded us to do the same on each seventh day. It is a time free from thoughts of everyday working activity, for more concentrated worship, for discussion and study of Torah, for celebrating our love of G-d, and for spending time with our families. Jews celebrate Shabbat by eating the best meals of the week. We have two loaves on the table instead of one and the loaves are challah, made with a rich dough, rather than ordinary bread.

A typical Friday night meal might consist of chicken soup with lokshen (vermicelli), fish - either fried fish (always in matzo meal rather than batter) or gefilte fish (fish balls formed from chopped fish, simmered and served in their own juice, and traditionally with a slice of cooked carrot on top and a spoonful of chrine, which is chopped horseradish and beetroot).

The main course is usually roast chicken with roast potatoes and the sweet might be apple strudel or some other rich dessert, served without cream or custard since it is not kosher to eat milk straight after eating meat.

The meal will finish with a cup of lemon tea (no milk) and the saying of Grace after Meals and the singing of appropriate songs.

Funerals: After a funeral it is customary to gather at the home of the breaved to comfort them. Bereaved people are not expected to look after themselves for the first week. Friends and relatives prepare food for them and for their visitors, of whom there are usually lots during the first week, which is the initial period of intense mourning, known as sitting shiva. When they return from the funeral mourners are given a snack consisting of round foods, often bagels and eggs. Round foods symbolise the cycle of life and eggs symbolise new life.

High Tea: Not an especially Jewish event but when Jews want to make a spread for visitors you are likely to find strongly flavoured foods like pickled or marinated herring, chopped egg and onion, chopped liver (always chicken liver), which is the Jewish equivalent of paté and, of course, smoked salmon (on its own or with cream cheese). Most of these will be served on bridge rolls or, even better, bagels.