Food news
HeritageThe National Museum of the Philippines Iloilo capped off its 2026 ‘Magbasá Kita: A Reading Program for Young Learners’ with an immersive storytelling session at the museum’s Book Nook on September 23, 2026. The activity introduced the localHeritage21st Sunchang Jangryu Festival to Welcome the World With K-Food and Cultural ExperiencesHeritage21st Sunchang Jangryu Festival to Welcome the World With K-Food and Cultural ExperiencesStreet foodMan dead, 3 in custody after shooting outside Piada Italian Street Food in Mayfield HeightsStreet foodBrick-and-Mortar Restaurants Need to Stop Blaming Street VendorsFarm and marketYour guide to Harvest Fair 2026 at Wisconsin State Fair ParkFarm and marketOct. 3 Harvest of Harmony Parade available to view in livestream broadcast during paradeFarm and marketSouthington Apple Harvest Festival kicks off tonightWorldBon Appétit editor-in-chief explores food’s role in culture, media at MSUFarm and marketDetroit Harvest Fest adds movies, more food trucks in year 6HeritageThe National Museum of the Philippines Iloilo capped off its 2026 ‘Magbasá Kita: A Reading Program for Young Learners’ with an immersive storytelling session at the museum’s Book Nook on September 23, 2026. The activity introduced the localHeritage21st Sunchang Jangryu Festival to Welcome the World With K-Food and Cultural ExperiencesHeritage21st Sunchang Jangryu Festival to Welcome the World With K-Food and Cultural ExperiencesStreet foodMan dead, 3 in custody after shooting outside Piada Italian Street Food in Mayfield HeightsStreet foodBrick-and-Mortar Restaurants Need to Stop Blaming Street VendorsFarm and marketYour guide to Harvest Fair 2026 at Wisconsin State Fair ParkFarm and marketOct. 3 Harvest of Harmony Parade available to view in livestream broadcast during paradeFarm and marketSouthington Apple Harvest Festival kicks off tonightWorldBon Appétit editor-in-chief explores food’s role in culture, media at MSUFarm and marketDetroit Harvest Fest adds movies, more food trucks in year 6
Thali

Sacred and ceremonial meals

The Passover Seder

The Jewish ritual meal on the first night of Passover, at which the story of the Exodus from Egypt is retold through symbolic foods.

Seder means order in Hebrew. It is a meal with fifteen set steps, held at home on the first night of Passover, and on the second night as well in communities outside Israel. Families read from a book called the Haggadah and fulfil the commandment to tell their children how God brought the Israelites out of slavery in Egypt.

What it is

The Seder is a telling, with food as the teaching aid. On the table is a Seder plate. It holds bitter herbs for the bitterness of slavery, a sweet brown paste of fruit and nuts called charoset for the mortar the slaves used, a green vegetable to dip in salt water for tears, a roasted shank bone recalling the Passover offering, and a roasted egg. Three pieces of matzah, unleavened bread, recall the haste of the departure. Each person drinks four cups of wine or grape juice.

The order of the night

The evening opens with the blessing over wine. The green vegetable is dipped. The middle matzah is broken and half is hidden away as the afikoman. The youngest child asks the Four Questions, beginning with why this night is different from all other nights, and the story is told in answer. Matzah and bitter herbs are eaten with blessings. Then the festive meal is served. Afterwards the afikoman is found and eaten, grace is said, and psalms and songs close the night.

The food

For the whole of Passover, leavened grain products, called chametz, are neither eaten nor kept in the house, and the home is cleaned beforehand. The meal itself differs by community. Ashkenazi families often serve chicken soup with matzah balls, poached fish dumplings and braised beef. Sephardi and Mizrahi families serve lamb, rice in some traditions, stuffed vegetables and date-based charoset. A cup of wine is poured for the prophet Elijah, and the door is opened for him.

How to do it

  1. If you are a guest, ask whether to bring anything. Food must be kosher for Passover.
  2. Follow along in the Haggadah. Readings often go round the table.
  3. Eat and drink each item when the leader does.
  4. Lean to the left when drinking the four cups, as free people once reclined.
  5. Expect a long evening. The meal comes about halfway through.

Good manners

  • Never bring bread, cake or anything leavened.
  • Questions are welcome. The Seder is built around asking.
  • Do not eat the symbolic foods before their turn.

What is eaten

MatzahUnleavened flatbread central to the Jewish Passover festivalCharosetA sweet fruit and nut paste for the Passover tableGefilte fishPoached patties of seasoned fish, often topped with carrot

Also part of it, and being written: Maror, Matzah ball, Karpas, Tzimmes, Matzah brei, Brisket.

Sources and further reading

About this page

Original text by the Thali desk, written with AI assistance and checked against the sources above. Customs vary from place to place. If we have something wrong, tell us.

Photo credits on this page

The small pictures above come from Wikimedia Commons under free licences. Some are cropped to fit.

The weekly plate

Every Monday: seven dishes you may not know, what the world is cooking this week, and one way of eating.