The worse smell I have ever had the pleasure of sniffing is definitely my mother’s gefilte fish. This Passover tradition can stink up the apartment and the hallways for days. Unlike me, everyone in my family would kill for this dish and looks forward to it every April. Gefilte fish, a Yiddish term meaning fish stuffing, is typically prepared by Ashkenazi Jewish people (Jews from Eastern Europe). Gefilte fish is a ground fish dish that has many different variations, which have changed through generations. This fish dish usually consists of large poached quenelles of group carp, whitefish, eggs, matzah meal, and seasonings. Gefilte fish is served cold or at room temperature and is frequently accompanied by carrots and chopped horseradish (Deutsch and Saks, 75). Although this may sound appealing to some, I could never figure out why this dish needed to be made on Passover. Researching this paper finally gave me my answer. This seemingly meaningless tradition, eating smelly fish on Passover, is important to not only maintain tradition but also to connect different sects of Jewish people.
In all religions cooking is a communal act that many enjoy, but in the Jewish religion eating and cooking are sacred. Throughout the year “Jews share a special relationship with food, and this relationship is expressed not only in all aspects of the food itself, but also in all aspects of food preparation and execution” (Deutsch and Saks, 35). Ever since I can remember, all of the Jewish gatherings that I have been apart of centered on food. Whatever the occasion might be, cooking and food play an enormous role. Throughout history, Jews have always had a special connection to food because of the way it brings together family. Even in the days when only the wife and daughter would prepare the meal, other members of the family always got involved, if merely as food critics. Jewish food is different from other cuisines because it is “an endlessly rich compendium of flavors and forms [that] may be derived from the endlessly delightful and delicious interweave of Jews within the tapestry of humanity” (Soltes, 39). When a Jewish family gathers around the table, there are two main focuses: the taste of the food and the bonding over the preparation and eating of the food. At the table, there appears to be no generational gaps, but rather just family enjoying each other’s company; when Jews eat they feel connected to all generations (Nathan, 2). My family is constantly worrying about the next meal, and this is what most of our conversations focus around. Although food plays a big part in a Jewish person’s everyday life, on the Jewish holidays there is an increased concentration on food.
In April, Jews are very busy with one of the most important holidays of the year: Passover. This eight-day holiday, in which gefilte fish is eaten, celebrates the exodus of the Jewish people from Egypt and signals the beginning of spring. On the first two nights of Passover there are traditional services called Seders (meaning order), which include prayers, stories, and blessings. During the Seder Jews eat symbolic foods, which are present to remember the event of exodus. One of the more important characteristics of this holiday is that to each person and each generation, Passover means something different (Sherman, 195). For example, to the younger generation Passover is the eight-day holiday where they can bond with their cousins over the fact that their parents will not let them eat their favorite foods. But to most adults, Passover brings celebration and happiness; my mom explained to me, “all Jewish holidays have a special meaning to me because they bring family together, but Passover especially makes me think of how lucky I am to have the family and the freedoms I do.” As one spends more time with the Jewish holiday and understands the meaning more, I believe that they come to appreciate its value. Although Passover has the same technical definition to each Jewish family, each family has their own values, traditions, and memories.
Passover comes with many customs but it is also possibly the most food-obsessed holiday on the Jewish calendar. This may seem odd to some because the most significant part of Passover is the removal of chametz, leaven, from one’s home and diet. This includes anything made of wheat, rye, barley, oat, and spelt that have not been completely cooked within 18 minutes after coming into contact with water (Deutsch and Saks, 92 and 93). Jews do not eat leavened foods to commemorate the fact that while leaving Egypt, the Jews were in such a hurry they did not have enough time to let the bread rise, so they had to take it unleavened. Another reason Jews do not eat chametz is because it is “a symbolic way of removing the ‘puffiness’ (arrogance, pride) from the soul” (Deutsch and Saks, 92). Since Jews are forced to eat foods that are atypical in their diet, they think about the hardship that their ancestors went through in order to become free. These are the Passover rules for Sephardic Jews who come from Spanish, Portuguese, or North African descent. However, to make matters even more complicated, Ashkenazi Jews also stay away from rice, corn, peanuts, and legumes because these foods are potentially used to make bread. In some homes these traditions are so prominent that families cover countertops and use separate dishes, pots, pans, utensils, and glasses to ensure that it is not possible to consume any chametz (Deutsch and Saks, 92).
To supplement this no leavened foods policy, Jews eat a hard cracker called Matzah. This crunchy “bread-like” food is the replica of the uncooked bread the Jews made right before they left Egypt. There are certain regulations that come with making matzah, one of which is that there can be no longer than 18 minutes between time the water touches the flour and the matzah is finished baking. Additionally, Matzah is made only with cold water and a special flour called kemach shel matzah shamura, it is then kneaded and rolled extremely thin and poked with holes and baked for two to three minutes (Deutsch and Saks, 93). However, as my mom pointed out, today’s generation is lucky to have all the “kosher for Passover” items that are available in supermarkets. There are array of food from cakes to snack foods. Although this holiday sounds like there are many things that cannot be eaten, there are many traditional Jewish dishes that we only get to enjoy once a year such as Matzah ball soup, brisket, charoses (a mixture of apples, nuts, wine, and cinnamon), and of course, gefilte fish.
As my mom informed me, in past generations, Gefilte fish was an inexpensive dish typically made by Eastern European Jews. The fish and matzah meal provided nourishment and came to be seen as a special treat. This fish, once eaten as an everyday meal, became a holiday tradition for Eastern European Jews in the United States (Cooper, 179). My mother explained that Gefilte Fish came to be celebrated because its round shape was a representation to all of the Jewish people, Sephardic or Ashkenazi, religious or assimilated, that there is a continuation of Jewish traditions in America.
April not only brings showers, but also a hectic atmosphere around my house as my mom prepares to host the first night of the Passover Seder. My mother orders my sister and me to clean our rooms and set the table, as she stays in her sweatpants and locks herself in the kitchen. All day she is busy making brisket, matzah ball soup, and of course gefilte fish. But actually, by the first day of Passover, my nose has already gotten used to the fishy smell. My mom cannot make the gefilte fish on that day, but rather she needs to start the process a couple of days before, on the day she buys the fish. Making gefilte fish is a many hour process over the course of several days, and it is a process my mother frequently shares with a friend. Why, I ask myself does she spend so much time making the fish when we live in New York City where decent fish can be bought?
Around 8:00pm a few days prior to the first Seder, I step out of the elevator on the fourth floor to smell the most potent fish one has ever inhaled. Not loving fish to begin with, this smell at times feels like it could knock me out. As I drop my backpack by the door, I stroll into the kitchen pinching my nose. I see my mom putting the balls of fish on beds of lettuce and placing them in Tupperware. Luckily, I never really see the whole process. The next time I see the fish is during the Seder when my mom plates each piece on her good china and passes the plates down the table to the adults. I have noticed that each year the plates are scraped clean and some people even venture to have two pieces. After that night, I try not to focus on the leftovers in the refrigerator; I know that very soon I will not have to think about gefilte fish again until next Passover.
The gefilte fish recipe that my mother makes today is inspired by my grandmother’s recipe. Grandma Lillian made gefilte fish for Rosh Hashanah in addition to Passover to commemorate my grandfather’s Polish background. As her main ingredients she used matzah meal, carp, and pike, which are very traditional gefilte fish ingredients. My mom remembers her mother working extremely hard to prepare this dish because my grandmother ground and deboned the fish herself. Even though making my grandmother’s fish required a great deal of effort, my mother, like me, did not like the fish. She did grow up to appreciate both the taste and the ceremony of making the fish. My mom fondly remembers the hectic atmosphere of her house right before the holidays. Days before the holiday began, my grandmother would be busy cooking, cleaning, and preparing the house for the upcoming festivities. Finally, once the guests arrived and everything was set, my mother remembers the satisfaction of her mom and observed the fact that she truly enjoyed the holiday.
My mother first made Gefilte fish on the Passover after my grandmother died, so her father could continue to enjoy the tradition. Only seventeen when her mother died, my mom went to a family friend’s house to learn to make the dish. However, little did she know that this friend’s family was from a different section in Europe than her father. My grandfather was a Litvak, which means not only that he came from an area close to Lithuania but also that he did not like his gefilte fish sweet. The friend who taught my mother to make the fish was a Galitzianer, a person who comes from Austria where they liked their gefilte fish with extra sugar. The Litvaks and the Galitzianer are two types of Ashkenazi Jews. When my grandfather tasted my mom’s sweet fish, he spit it out and was flabbergasted that my mother did not know that “his people” did not eat this type of gefilte fish. This funny story is a typical reaction from my hardheaded, polish-speaking, sarcastic grandfather. My grandfather associated a specific kind of fish with the specific group of Jewish people with which he identified. In America, gefilte fish has brought together Jewish people from many groups. Although diverse types of Jewish people may continue to make the gefilte fish differently today, they all associate it with their Jewish culture. Even those who buy it in a jar, perhaps having forgotten the historical differences between fish, continue to associate it with their Jewish culture. I have come to understand that the slow preparation of this food, in a more traditional manner, strengthens Jewish identification. Although each sect may have different practices and traditions, food has become a symbol of both their common past and present connection.
After this episode, my mother did not make the dish again until she had kids of her own and wanted them to experience the same holiday tradition she had experienced growing up. However, she does not make the fish with the same ingredients that my grandmother used. My mom makes fish that has a cleaner and more modern taste, which is also easier to make. She accomplishes this by using salmon, white fish, and pike and not grounding and deboning the fish herself. Starting a number of years ago, my mom created her own tradition of buying the fish she is going to use in Monsey, which is an Orthodox area in Rockland County. As mother describes it, when you walk through Monsey “you feel like she stepped back 100 years.” She tried to explain to me that this area is not like anything I have ever seen before: all the Hasidic Jews speak Yiddish rather than English, women cover their heads, and men will not even speak to women. But each year the fish from Monsey is reasonably priced and of good quality. Although my mom did not exactly feel comfortable in this extremely religious neighborhood, she continues to go to Monsey for the experience of feeling the Jewish culture. My family is conservative, which is a movement reacting against the radicalism of Reform Judaism, and the traditionalism of the Orthodox. Conservatives reject extreme change and advocating moderate relaxations of traditional Jewish law. Even though Orthodox Jews are much more religious than conservative Jews, they share in the tradition of eating gefilte fish.
After making the fish all these years, my mother has become accustomed to the smell. I guess there is hope for me. Although it is very simple to pick up a jar of gefilte fish at the supermarket, she continues to make it because it reminds her of her parents. My mom hopes that by her making the gefilte fish my sister and I will learn the importance of tradition and gain incite to our grandparent’s culture.
Although different sects of Jews, and within those sects, Jews from diverse geographical regions, have distinctive beliefs and rituals, they all have the common ancestors and memories that unite them. American Jews today may identify with both a Jewish sect (Ashkenazi or Sephardic), and a level of observance, (Orthodox, Conservative, or Reformed). To maintain their identity today it is important for all categories of Jews, to identify with each other no matter their generation or sect. A common history and religion helps to maintain the population. The preparation and eating of food, and in particular, Gefilte Fish, helps Jews to maintain and enjoy their histories, their families, and their common Jewish heritage.
My Mother’s Gefilte Fish Recipe
Fish Balls:
3 lbs. fish ground (white fish, pike, small amount of salmon @1/4 lb) (app. 45 pieces or balls)
6 eggs
3 tlb salt
½ tsp pepper
2 onions
Grated
2 lag carrots grated
7 ½ tlb sugar
Mix all ingredients in cuisanart or by hand the place hands in ice water to make the balls after the stock comes to a boil drop the balls in pot.
Stock:
5 quarts water
3 tbl sugar
1 tsp white pepper
2 tsp salt
Large onion sliced
1 bag baby carrots
Fish bones and heads
Bring stock to a boil add the balls and cook for 1 ½ on a medium flame.
Works Cited
Cooper, John. Eat and Be Satisfied: A Social History of Jewish Food. Northvale, New Jersey: Jason Aronson Inc., 1993. Print.
Deutsch, Jonathan, and Rachel D. Saks. Jewish American food culture. Westport, Connecticut: Greenwood Press, 2008. Print.
Nathan, Joan. “A Social History of Jewish Food in America.” Food & Judaism. Leonard J. Greenspoon, Ronald A. Simkins, and Gerald Shapiro. Omaha: Creighton University Press, 2005. 1-14. Print.
Sherman, Sharon R. “The Passover Seder, Ritual Dynamics, Foodways, and Family Folklore.” Food in the USA. Carole Counihan. New York: Routledge, 2002. 193-203. Print.
Soltes, Ori Z. “The Art of Jewish Food.” Food & Judaism. Leonard J. Greenspoon, Ronald A. Simkins, and Gerald Shapiro. Omaha: Creighton University Press, 2005. 27-65. Print.
Weinberg, Judith. Personal interview. 25 November, 2011.
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