Food Folk Tales: Dairy on Shavuot
Author and Photographer: Jason Frey
Most people, when they encounter mention of Jewish holidays, often think of Hanukkah or possibly Passover. But a holiday that I don’t think gets enough credit—particularly in the food category—is Shavuot. Sure, it is a fairly minor holiday by comparison, but for the readers of this blog, Jewish food appreciators, and dairy-based baked good fans, I contend that we should all recognize the greatness of Shavuot traditions. I didn’t expect this blog post to have a thesis, but I suppose that I’ll stand by it nevertheless.
Shavuot is a harvest holiday that celebrates the wheat harvest in Ancient Israel, and this year it begins in the evening of Sunday, May 16. Fun fact about the name of the holiday: shavuot itself means “weeks” in Hebrew, and as such Shavuot marks the end of the seven week period called the Counting of the Omer, which is a period between the sacrifice of the first ripe piece of wheat and the end of the harvest. The second religious aspect of Shavuot, and the relevant one for this discussion of food traditions, is that the holiday marks the anniversary of the Israelites receiving the Torah at Mount Sinai.
As I’ve already hinted, the Shavuot food tradition is all about dairy. It is customary for Jews to eat dairy products throughout the celebration of the holiday. So, where did this tradition come from? As with all things in Judaism, scholars have many opinions and arguments as to the origin of this custom. Some believe that, originating from the Biblical poem the Song of Songs (read during Passover), a verse containing the phrase “honey and milk” is a metaphor for the Torah. Accordingly, on the holiday that celebrates the anniversary of the gift of the Torah, i.e. Shavuot, Jews ought to eat milk-based products.
Another interpretation is that once the Israelites received the Torah on Shabbat (during which labor is not allowed), they were obligated to follow the laws of kashrut (the system that denotes which food is Kosher). Since Kosher meat must be butchered in specific ways and be eaten separately from dairy, the Israelites were unable to follow these rules on Shabbat and ate dairy products instead. This became tradition on the anniversary of the gift of Torah. Other Biblical passages relating to Shavuot liken the Israelites who had just received the Torah to babies who must subsist on milk.
This tradition translated into modern times through Eastern European (Ashkenazi) Jews inducting their children into school with a celebration on Shavuot that included dairy dishes. As the Jewish diaspora grew, this custom was passed on and takes form in the 21st century as a day on which quiches, casseroles, blintzes, cheesecake, etc. are eaten. Truly a fantastic tradition.
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In celebration of Shavuot, I ordered some dairy foods from Manny’s Cafeteria & Delicatessen, a Jewish Deli in the South Loop. Unfortunately, the item that I was looking forward to the most was my least favorite: the chocolate chip cheesecake. It was certainly a cheesecake, but nothing really to write home about, and it was quite dense. I think that if the chocolate were better quality, I would have enjoyed it a lot more. The noodle kugel, on the other hand, was extremely nostalgic for me—I get flashbacks to cooking with my mom and eating holiday meals with my extended family. It was tasty, if a little watery and slightly lacking in cinnamon. Lastly, It’s no secret that I love blintzes, and the cheese blintzes were the highlight. They had the perfect amount of lemon zest and taste almost as buttery as my own. I wish that they included a fruit preserve other than apple sauce, but if you’re thinking about getting a quick dairy treat for Shavuot, the cheese blintzes are the way to go—BYOFP: bring your own fruit preserves. Happy Shavuot!
