On Pesach and Eating and Food

[gnomi]

Pesach (Passover) is an odd holiday in relation to food. There's all sorts of normal, everyday things we can't eat, there's a bunch of foods that seem to traditionally only show up for Passover, and food seems to be of particular focus in people's minds during the holiday.

Because on Pesach we can't eat chametz (which has come to include much more than specifically leavened food) and, as Ashkenazim (people with roots in Eastern Europe), we don't eat kitnyot (legumes), there's all sorts of interesting things that are excised for the week. And other things appear in Pesach-only formats.

I eat much more meat (and potatoes) on Pesach than I eat the rest of the year.

One of the Pesach-only foods is Coca-Cola, which appears in its traditional sugared variety instead of the high-fructose corn syrup version that has become standard.

But there's something more: it's very hard to find caffeine free Coke or coffee or just about anything, because the decaffeination process uses (in ways I don't know) chametz ingredients. And so for me, having cut approximately 90% of the caffeine out of my diet, it's a bit more challenging to find what to drink (I'm drinking a lot of water, but I always drink a lot of water, and I like something warm with my breakfast). I've got caffeinated tea that I'm drinking instead of my coffee in the morning (since I don't have a Pesach coffee pot in the office), and a bit of the Pesach Coke over the yom tov, but other than that, I'm mostly sticking to water.

I love Pesach, don't get me wrong, but part of me is looking forward to returning to the normality of my regular diet.

Omer, day 4

Comments

[ghilledhu.livejournal.com]

The other interesting thing is all the "cheats" that have sprung up: things which are technically pesach-safe, but which, to my mind, violate the spirit of things. If you're going to eat the bread of affliction, then eat the bread of affliction, dammit! Don't eat fluffy rolls and cakes and say it's okay because they're made with matzoh meal. Also, I never quite understood why legumes were banned. Can you enlighten me on that one? I mean, they aren't leavened.

I have to say, though, that I love a lot of the traditional passover foods: matzoh balls, which never felt like a cheat to me...maybe because they're not trying to be bread? macaroons, those yummy fruit slices, fried matzoh...and now I'm hungry.

[530nm330hz.livejournal.com]

The classic, Maxwell House, still makes decaf that's kosher l'Pesach, for what it's worth.

Last night, I brewed some half-caff joe at home and stuck it in the 'fridge to bring to work. (An empty water bottle did the trick.) Iced coffee's not a drink I often have, but for this week it satisfies the itch.

[eireangus.livejournal.com]

I completely agree!

Luckily I am addicted to caffeine and don't need to find caffeine-free drinks. I haven't found Kosher for Pesach Coca-Cola around here, but I used to see it back in the Northeast. Then again, I am not a soda-drinker.

For me, this week is all about the potato and the macaroon.

Hehe :-D

[eireangus.livejournal.com]

PS
I love your icon!!! I need to update my set of user icons soon.

[tiptoe39.livejournal.com]

part of me is looking forward to returning to the normality of my regular diet.

That part of me is called my colon.

>.

[sdelmonte]

Interestingly, I am having a bit less caffeine. While I have having a can of Diet Coke lunch, I am forgoing my daily large cup o'tea as I didn't feel like fighting with the tiny electric immersion heater this year. So on the whole, less caffeine.

Also, because of Batya being on South Beach, as well as having seder with other people who can't eat potatoes, I haven't seen a single potato all week. I expect that to change this weekend, but so far I have been good, and while I miss potatoes, I am thinking that I don't miss that as much as I expected to. Maybe I will stay without the noble spud a while longer.

[crwilley.livejournal.com]

"Kosher for Passover" Coke became greatly appreciated by any number of gentiles, too, once we found out that what made it kosher was real, genuine, bona fide sugar used in place of nasty high-fructose corn syrup. (Coke says, for what it's worth, that two-liters have a shelf life of about 3 months, cans about a year.)

Of course, around the time that seems to have become common knowledge, the grocery stores in my area stopped carrying it, even the one that typically carries any type of Passover-related food or merchandise you could ask for. You'd think Coke and Pepsi would take a hint, though, and maybe investigate whether people would pay a dime or two more for sugar in their soda year-round.

...and is caffeine-free Coke actually decaffeinated? Caffeine is listed as a separate ingredient on the Diet Coke I'm drinking this morning.

[gnomi.livejournal.com]

I'm not sure if caffeine-free Coke is decaffeinated or if the caffeine is just not there to begin with.

[quarkwiz.livejournal.com]

Our local Shoprite has caffeine-free KfP Coke. At least, that's what I think it was; I saw the yellow caps but did not look closely, as I don't drink fizzy stuff unless I'm desperate and the hubby only likes plain Coke (which is what I bought). He says either we got a bad batch or they changed the formula, though, because it tastes terrible! Keep in mind this is a Canuck who is used to 'real' Coke from years of living someplace where it was available all the time, not just for Passover. [trivia] Real Coke is also what's sold in Mexico and the Caribbean. Why do we have to have the crappy stuff? :-/

[crwilley.livejournal.com]

[trivia answer]American prices for sugar are kept artificially high by trade policies. Meanwhile, high fructose corn syrup is cheaper than food, which is why it's almost impossible to find processed foods made without it anymore. Canada, Mexico, and the Carribean simply have cheaper sugar and maybe more expensive corn.[/trivia answer]

[quarkwiz.livejournal.com]

Ah, thanks! I figured the corn syrup would be involved somehow. Blech.

Another bit of trivia: Brown sugar available in Canada is much, MUCH better than what's available in the States. I've never seen concrete proof, but my friends up north tell me it's because the cane is Cuban and somehow superior. Whatever the reason, I stock up when we go up for visits, then vacuum-pack it so it won't dry out.

[half-double.livejournal.com]

Are you having trouble finding matzoh this year? I keep reading about this great matzoh shortage, but no one I know personally seems to be having issues. You have secret stashes, right?

[sorek.livejournal.com]

I read the same reports, but haven't actually seen the shortage either.

[gnomi.livejournal.com]

I have seen no matzah shortage, personally.

[ghilledhu.livejournal.com]

Plenty of matzoh up in Hartford. In fact, I'm actually having an easier time finding it than I did when I lived in NY! (West Hartford has a HUGE Jewish population, you see...)

[sorek.livejournal.com]

Ditto for us on the more meat, but instead of the potatoes, it's eggs. My mother bought eight dozen eggs before Pesach...and we've finished them all.

re problems finding kfp decaffinated coffe

[sorek.livejournal.com]

"But there's something more: it's very hard to find caffeine free Coke or coffee or just about anything, because the decaffeination process uses (in ways I don't know) chametz ingredients"

Doing a google search on "decaffeination chametz" returns this link from aish.com which has the following quote

"there happen to be manufacturers who use...ethyl acetate -- a derivative of chametz -- in their decaffeination process".

(wikipedia link added by me).

And from Wikipedia's page on Decaffeination we find that to decaffeinate coffee beans requires them to be "rinsed in solvent" which ethyl acetate happens to be one of.

Re: re problems finding kfp decaffinated coffe

[kuroshii.livejournal.com]

i've noticed "water process" decaffination has gotten to be a LOT more popular lately, even among gentiles, over the concern regarding OMG CHEMICALS in food. places like whole foods would have more of it. of course it's higher-end. check labels.

[aunt-becca.livejournal.com]

no kidding! I don't eat a lot of meat, so Pesach is always a challenge. I did indulge in a teensy bit of KLP coke, which was divine :) I do enjoy this holiday but I'm ready to be back to normal.

[cellio]

No matzah problems here either.

What about drinks that are naturally non-caffeinated -- fruit juices, non-cola pop, etc? I'll admit that trying to get rid of caffeine is not part of my usual experience, so I don't pay much attention to that space; do they not make KfP Sprite etc?

[gnomi.livejournal.com]

I've had no trouble finding KfP seltzer (even the flavored ones), and there are plenty of KfP juices, but I haven't seen any Sprite (which is my default non-Pesach soda if I'm in a situation to be drinking soda (which we don't do at home, mostly, but do at restaurants and at friends'). The Dr. Brown's sodas -- for example, the Black Cherry and the Cream Soda -- are both decaffeinated and KfP.