Q:
A: The number one Passover food is matzoh (unleavened bread). The Passover holiday celebrates the Exodus from Egypt and the end of their slavery there. The bible tells the story that liberation came all at once, so there was no time to let the bread rise. The Israelites baked their loaves without it rising, and we commemorate that time by not eating regular bread, cake, cookies, or anything else with leavening. The other classic foods for Passover are the symbolic foods we taste at the Passover Seder, a special meal and prayers held on the first day (or two days) of the holiday. These include: Bitter herbs, like horseradish, to remind us of the bitterness of slavery; Charoset, a sweet mixture of chopped fruits and nuts; it sybolizes the sweetness of freedom, but it always has a brownish color that is supposed to look like the mortar used by the Jewish slaves to construct the Egyptian Pharoh's buildings; A fresh green vegetable (often parsley) to symbolize the spring when Passover comes. It is eaten after being dipped in salt water, a symbol of the tears shed in slavery; The shankbone of a lamb, which is actually not eaten at all, but it presented on the Seder table to remind us of the biblical passage that God brought the 10 plagues on Egypt to make Pharoh let the people go free. The worst of these plagues was the last one (death of the first born child in each family). The blood of a lamb marked the homes of the Jewish families, and these were passed over (hence the name Passover) and did not suffer the plague. I hope this helps. Good luck!!