Question: What is the difference between Kosher Food and Jewish Cuisine?
Answer: Kosher food is any food prepared in accordance with Jewish dietary laws. Jewish Dietary Laws are derived from Biblical laws and rabbinical extensions.
Jewish cuisine is the product of Jewish dietary laws, Jewish Sabbath laws, Jewish holiday rituals, and the local food and cooking customs of the many lands in which Jews have lived over the centuries.
So Jewish cuisine has been influenced by the laws of kashrut, but Jewish cuisine goes beyond these laws. While only about 15% of American Jews today keep kosher, many more Jews (and non-Jews) enjoy Jewish cuisine such as bagels and lox breakfasts, blintz lunches, brisket dinners as well as challah for the Sabbath, latkas for Hanukkah, hamantashen for Purim, matzo ball soup for Passover, cheesecake for Shavuot and more.
Jewish cuisine is the product of Jewish dietary laws, Jewish Sabbath laws, Jewish holiday rituals, and the local food and cooking customs of the many lands in which Jews have lived over the centuries.
So Jewish cuisine has been influenced by the laws of kashrut, but Jewish cuisine goes beyond these laws. While only about 15% of American Jews today keep kosher, many more Jews (and non-Jews) enjoy Jewish cuisine such as bagels and lox breakfasts, blintz lunches, brisket dinners as well as challah for the Sabbath, latkas for Hanukkah, hamantashen for Purim, matzo ball soup for Passover, cheesecake for Shavuot and more.
