Chef Mark Mattern, MBA, CEC

With Passover beginning next week, we thought it would be nice to provide a little background on food typically found at a Passover Seder. Matzah- Matza is the substitute for bread during the Jewish holiday of Passover, when eating chametz (bread and leavened products) is not allowed. Eating matza on the night of the seder is considered a positive mitzvah, i.e., a commandment. In the context of the Passover seder meal, certain restrictions additional to the chametz prohibitions are to be met for the matza to be considered "mitzva matza", that is, matza that meets the requirements of the positive commandment to eat matza at the seder. Maror and Chazeret- These bitter herbs represent the bitter life the Jews led as slaves in Egypt. They're eaten twice during the Seder-once by themselves and once with matzah. Horseradish is often used for maror and romaine lettuce for chazeret. Charoset- This represents the bricks and mortar the Jews used to make Egyptian building, so it ...

Passover begins today, I thought it would be nice to provide a little background on food typically found at a Passover Seder. Matzah- Matza is the substitute for bread during the Jewish holiday of Passover, when eating chametz (bread and leavened products) is not allowed. Eating matza on the night of the seder is considered a positive mitzvah, i.e., a commandment. In the context of the Passover seder meal, certain restrictions additional to the chametz prohibitions are to be met for the matza to be considered "mitzva matza", that is, matza that meets the requirements of the positive commandment to eat matza at the seder. Maror and Chazeret- These bitter herbs represent the bitter life the Jews led as slaves in Egypt. They're eaten twice during the Seder-once by themselves and once with matzah. Horseradish is often used for maror and romaine lettuce for chazeret. Charoset- This represents the bricks and mortar the Jews used to make Egyptian building, so it should be mad...