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Jewish Diaspora · V The Canonical Dishes

The Three Traditions: Ashkenazi, Sephardic, Mizrahi

‹ The Canonical Dishes

I

Origin

There is no single "Jewish food" — there are three distinct diaspora culinary traditions, each shaped by a different exile. The Ashkenazi tradition developed in the Jews of Northern and Eastern Europe (Germany, Poland, Russia, the Pale of Settlement) — shaped by cold climate, poverty, and Sabbath laws applied to the ingredients of Northern Europe. The Sephardic tradition developed in the Jews expelled from Spain in 1492 and their descendants in the Ottoman Empire, North Africa, and the Netherlands — shaped by the sophisticated Moorish-Iberian cooking they carried from Spain. The Mizrahi tradition developed in the Jews of the Middle East, Persia, and North Africa — shaped by the specific cooking of each country where they lived.

II

Description

The three traditions and their defining characteristics.

III

The Thread

—All three traditions parallel their host cultures — Ashkenazi parallels Polish and Russian cooking
—Sephardic parallels Ottoman and North African cooking
—Mizrahi parallels Persian, Arab, and Indian (in the case of the Bene Israel community of India) cooking
IV

Flavour Context

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