page_title: Sephardic Jewish cuisine
hierarchical_section_title: Sephardic Jewish cuisine
caption_attribution_description: Español: Frito gaditano - Pescados diversos: cazón - pijotas - choclos
context_page_description: Sephardic Jewish cuisine is an assortment of cooking traditions that developed among the Sephardi Jews—the Jews of Spain and Portugal, and those of this Iberian origin who were dispersed in the Sephardic Diaspora, and ultimately became the Eastern Sephardim and North African Sephardim as they settled throughout the Mediterranean in places such as Turkey, Greece, the Balkans, as well as the Arab countries of West Asia and North Africa. Cuisine of the Sephardi Jews also includes the cuisine of those who became the Western Sephardim who settled in Holland, England, and from these places elsewhere.
  Although Mizrahi Jews, being the pre-existing Jews of the Greater Middle East, are sometimes called Sephardim in a broader sense due to their style of liturgy, and although there is some overlap in populations due to the Sephardic Diaspora, the Sephardic Jews also settled in many other countries outside the Greater Middle East as well. As such, this article deals only with the cuisine of the Jewish populations with ancestral origins in the Iberian Peninsula, in whichever regions they settled, not just the Greater Middle East.
context_section_description: Sephardic Jewish cuisine is an assortment of cooking traditions that developed among the Sephardi Jews—the Jews of Spain and Portugal, and those of this Iberian origin who were dispersed in the Sephardic Diaspora, and ultimately became the Eastern Sephardim and North African Sephardim as they settled throughout the Mediterranean in places such as Turkey, Greece, the Balkans, as well as the Arab countries of West Asia and North Africa. Cuisine of the Sephardi Jews also includes the cuisine of those who became the Western Sephardim who settled in Holland, England, and from these places elsewhere.
  Although Mizrahi Jews, being the pre-existing Jews of the Greater Middle East (who are of non-Spanish and non-Portuguese origins), are sometimes called Sephardim in a broader sense due to their style of liturgy, and although there is some overlap in populations due to the Sephardic Diaspora, the Sephardic Jews also settled in many other countries outside the Greater Middle East as well. As such, this article deals only with the cuisine of the Jewish populations with ancestral origins in the Iberian Peninsula, in whichever regions they settled, not just the Greater Middle East. For Cuisine of the Mizrahi Jews, please see that article.
  As with other Jewish ethnic divisions composing the Jewish Diaspora, Sephardim cooked foods that were popular in their countries of residence, adapting them to Jewish religious dietary requirements. known as kashrut. Their choice of foods was also determined by economic factors, with many of the dishes based on inexpensive and readily available ingredients.
  Animals deemed permissible as a source of meat had to be slaughtered in keeping with shechita, or Jewish ritual slaughter, which further involved its soaking and salting to remove blood. Hence, meat was often reserved for holidays and special occasions. Many Sephardi dishes use ground meat. Milk and meat products could not be mixed or served at the same meal. Cooked, stuffed and baked vegetables are central to the cuisine, as are various kinds of beans, chickpeas, lentils and bulgur/burghul (cracked wheat). Rice takes the place of potatoes.
caption: Western Sephardi dish of pescado frito. The predecessor of fish and chips introduced in the 17th century by Jews from Spain and Portugal, now also a staple of British cuisine.
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