The Green Fork is the official blog of the Eat Well Guide. Click here to Find Good Food.

When we talk about sustainable food, in almost every aspect, we are talking about a movement of “retrovorism,” a movement back to a less industrial and more local way of producing and distributing food. We are also talking about community, because food, when it’s not created in factories and served through windows, is a social connector. The Eat Well Guide helps you connect to people who produce real food, but food in general and food traditions in particular, help you connect to other people.

We’re excited to share our thoughts about various food traditions here at the Green Fork. However they vary between cultures and faiths throughout the world, food traditions shape our culture and our memories. We all have a certain dish that reminds us of a holiday, or a ritual that uses food as a symbol of faith. Often these “food memories” are what connect the human experience to a physical reaction to food as well as an emotional connection to it. What a gift to allow us to share these with each other (the Eat Well Guide team as well as guest bloggers) through this ongoing series.

This past weekend, I was invited to attend my first Passover Seder at a friend’s house in Yonkers, New York. I had a feeling that my impending evening would resemble holidays with the Italian side of my family—a home filled with love, good food and gracious company. And I was right–in this way, it was not unlike my family’s food traditions.

I was welcomed to the Seder with open arms. This family was proud to share their traditions and faith. With the knowledge that I am a gentile (but also a foodie) they were eager to explain the significance of the Seder and the role that food played in the evening’s festivities. The Passover Seder is a meal surrounding the story of the exodus of the Jews out of slavery in Egypt. We began the evening by gathering around two long tables (so everyone could fit-there were 21 people!) and opened the Haggadah and began to read the story of Passover. I was pleased to find that the ceremony was participatory. We took turns and I was encouraged to engage with everyone in the reading of the Haggadah.

What was different (and poignant) for me was that food and religion were intertwined throughout every aspect of the evening. Personally, my own experiences have been such that I was always used to the two remaining separate. On holidays, I would attend church services in the morning, and then travel to see family later that day where we would share a meal together.

I was also impressed by the symbolism and ritual of Sedar dinner. The food on the Seder plate consists of five symbolic foods. As seen here there is a karpas, a vegetable resembling spring and rebirth (onion). The maror and chazeret, or bitter herbs, here is parsley, resembling bitter slavery in Egypt. The charoset pictured here is a combination of apples and cinnamon, held together like the materials used during building in ancient Egypt. The paschal lamb is to commemorate the giving on the eve of Passover. Finally a roasted egg is used to symbolize the mourning of the destruction of the temple.

Following the symbolic foods (none of which were eaten from the Seder plate) we commenced the meal with soul food-gifelte fish and matzah ball soup. I admit, I was reluctant to try the gifelte fish after only having seen it in jars at the grocery store. I decided to dig in as it was part of the experience. The matzah ball soup I was told was Jewish comfort food—something your grandma makes you when you are sick, it definitely rivaled any chicken noodle soup I had growing up.

Food traditions tie us not only to history, but to each other. It’s about being happy with simplicity and family, food, tradition, and love. At the end of the Seder, I felt like I do after Thanksgiving-stuffed to the brim with soul food and warm with the feeling of family.

The Jew and the Carrot blog had an incredible guest post last week about Chametz and Sustainability, by Barbara Lerman-Golomb, who writes:

When our ancestors were dwelling in the desert, they had no choice but to live simply. In our day, simplicity has come to mean conservation, not using more than you need, and not being wasteful. Jewish law prohibits wasteful consumption. When we waste resources, we are violating the law of bal tashchit—Do not destroy. (Deuteronomy 20: 19-20).

Family, tradition, good food, and sustainability. We’re not exactly Luddites here at Eat Well, but we certainly appreciate a tradition that reminds us how to tread a little lighter on the Earth (especially when we do it with good food).

My friends were kind enough to share the recipe for their delicious Matzo Ball Soup with me. Give it a try and let us know how it goes!

Homemade Chicken Soup With Matzo Balls

Ingredients

1 whole chicken fryer
1 large sweet onion
2-3 carrots
2 turnips
2 parsnips
3-4 celery stalks
Fresh dill
Salt
White pepper
Directions

1. Fill a big pot 2/3 of the way with cold water & start heating it up on medium high heat.
2. Cut up chicken into pieces – thighs, drumsticks, wings, breast, etc.
3. Drop chicken carefully into the water & bring to a slow boil.
4. Reduce heat to simmer & cover.
5. Cook for 1 ½ to 2 hours until the meat is cooked & falling off the bones.
6. Remove chicken & set aside to cool.
7. Cut up vegetables into bite sized pieces & put into soup broth. Remove dill leaves from stalks, chop up and put into the broth too. (Amounts of vegetables & dill can vary to suit your taste buds.)
8. Salt and pepper to taste.
9. Cover and cook 1 hour on medium (slow boil).
10. Remove chicken from bones, cut up and put back into the broth.
11. Bring to a boil and add matzo balls…recipe below!

Matzo Ball Recipe (makes 8 matzo balls)

1 cup Matzo meal
½ cup water
1/3 cup vegetable oil
4 eggs
Salt & pepper
1. In a large bowl, beat eggs, water, and salt & pepper together.
2. Add oil and beat again until well mixed.
3. Add matzo meal a little at a time until combined.
4. Cover and refrigerate an hour or so until mixture thickens.
5. Add raw matzo balls to boiling chicken soup. (An ice cream scoop works well.)
6. Lower heat and simmer 15-20 minutes. Matzo balls will rise to the top.
7. Ladle up and enjoy!