On Friday, the first night of Passover,Jews across the world sit down for a ceremonial Seder meal. And onmany of those tables youll find brisket. Or lamb. Or roast chicken.

Basically, if youre a vegetarian, it can get a little lonely. But as a newly translated cookbook shows, Jewish vegetarians have a long anddelicious heritage.

Several years ago, culinary ethnographer Eve Jochnowitz came across a Yiddish vegetarian cookbook from 1938.The actual title of the book is 'Vegetarish-Dietisher Kokhbukh' vegetarian dietetic cookbook, Jochnowitz says. Not really a great title by marketing standards, but back thenthat was the bomb.

The book was written by Fania Lewando, a restaurant owner in what was then Poland (it'snow in Lithuania). Jochnowitz has just translated the book into English and given it aslightly more inviting title:"The Vilna Vegetarian Cookbook."

And Fania Lewando was no casual vegetarian.

She says it has long been established by the leading medical authorities that the vegetarian diet is the most healthful for the human organism, Jochnowitz translates. And then, in the second sentence, she says ...our Jewish tradition upholds the principle of tza'ar baalei chaim kindness to Gods creatures.

In this one-two punch of an introduction, Lewando putsscience and health with equal on equal footingas Jewish ethics. Though, to be clear, were not talking raw kale and juice cleanses. This is a book full of butter and eggs, sugar and sour cream sometimes all in the same dish.

Those rich ingredients dress up the usual beets and cabbage, challah and matzo balls. But theres also an exploration of all sorts of dishes and ingredients, likeJerusalem artichokes and chanterelle mushrooms, or red wine soup and radish jam. AndJochnowitz says the underlying striving for an ethical, healthy future even if that definition includes cholesterol was very much part of the zeitgeist in the yearsjust before World War II.

I think theres very much a feeling that one isreally just on the brink, the threshold of a great new world, Jochnowitz says. Of course, all of these hopes and dreams were just about to be crushed in the most horrible, brutal way.

Lewando didnt survive the war,and neither did thosehopes for the future. There were still a handful of vegetarian restaurants and cookbooks, along witha few health resorts, but the broader ideological movement more or less disappeared.

Read more from the original source:
Jewish vegetarians say you don't have to make brisket for Passover and they've got the recipes to prove it