Though I went to a Jewish preschool and celebrated Shabbat at the end of each school week, the first time I can remember consciously enjoying a Passover meal was in my freshman year of college. A friend invited me to the campus Jewish community center, and I was immediately drawn to the steamy pot of matzo ball soup. After just that first bowl, it became a staple of my favorite food list. When I looked into making it myself, I became suddenly aware that there was not only matzo ball soup but a wide world of matzo recipes. The generally held view on matzo, as JewishBoston magazine so eloquently put it, is that “edible matzah doesn’t exist; it’s a bland, stale cracker that you’re forced to eat once a year, and even then out of protest.” [1] However, I would argue that the historical significance and creative multitude of matzo usages transform this cracker from bland to delicious.
            Matzo – sometimes called Matsa, Matzo, Mus’sah, Massa (singular), or Matzot/Matsat (plural) – which is also known as the “Bread of Affliction'' – is an unleavened bread, similar in texture to a thick cracker. As told in the Torah Book of Exodus, the Ancient Israelites ate matzo while fleeing Egyptian slavery because they did not have time to let their bread dough rise on the way to freedom. The Israelites were so rushed that the “bread” is closer in texture to a cracker; in honor of that tradition matzo today must be made from start to finish within the time it takes to walk a Talmudic mile (about 1000 meters), 18 minutes [2]. Nowadays, Jews traditionally eat matzo during Passover, a week-long remembrance of that same story. During this holiday, matzo is essential not only because leavened (containing yeast) bread is not eaten, but also because it is an important part of the Passover Seder (pronounced “say-dr”) meal. On the Seder table, families wrap three matzos in cloth to represent the three Jewish communities (Kohens, Levi, and Yisrael). Each of the foods included on the Seder table “allow[s] the participants to see, smell, feel, and taste liberation” [3] as families read the biblical story of Exodus. Made simply of flour and water, with no enriching ingredients, matzo reminds Jews of the terrible treatment the Israelites endured under their masters in Egypt.
            Due to its bland nature, Jewish cooks have found countless creative ways to transform matzo. For instance, in her book called Too Good to Passover, food writer and chef Jennifer Felicia Abadi’s includes many recipes that utilize matzo as layers in both sweet and savory casseroles: scacchi (layered pie with ground beef, pine nuts, and raisins on page 613), matzo lapta (egg pie on page 531), and even a “bread” pudding (Babanzatza on page 672). One can also use matzo to soak up flavors, as in matzo ball soup. Matzo is also frequently crumbled into meat to keep it moist during the cooking process, as in mina, a special Passover casserole created by Katherine Cohen to pair with keftes de prassa and a hard boiled egg as an appetizer. Other recipes incorporate matzo by using it in a “meal”, or finely ground, form. For instance, ka’akeh pesteh, a ground pistachio cake with cardamom syrup, incorporates matzo meal as a flour substitute in the Sephardic Heritage Cookbook by Or Chadash Sisterhood Sephardic Temple Tifereth Israel, which uses matzo meal in Passover apple cake and haroset. The keftes de prassa por pesach recipe, [4] which is a crispy beef and leek patty Sephardic Jews traditionally eat at New Years, uses matzo as both a binding agent and a tempura-like coating. One can even make Passover popover rolls, which makes bread out of matzo!
            Overall, matzo and its many creative usages are a testament to the preservation Jewish communities. The last few years have seen an explosion of widely accessible matzo recipes, ranging from traditional to new and alternative. While most Ashkevazi Jews report having a few dishes from their childhood that they could not live without, there seems to be a desire to integrate dishes with inspiration from Jewish communities around the globe, more flavorful dishes, and dishes that accommodate gluten-free, dairy free, vegetarian, and vegan diets.[5] The variety of matzo-based dishes that Jews have innovated speaks to a rich tradition that honors its past and respects the evolving nature of their youth. As a lover of matzo ball soup, I hope everyone gets the chance to try this special food.

[1] Jesse Ulrich, JewishBoston. “Matzah Taste-Test: 15 Kinds to Try This Passover.” accessed March 12, 2023, https://www.jewishboston.com/read/matzah-taste-test-15-kinds-to-try-this-passover/. 
[2] Yehuda Shurpin, Chabad.org. “Why 18 Minutes for Matzah?” Chabad.org, accessed March 12, 2023, https://www.chabad.org/holidays/passover/pesach_cdo/aid/5075941/jewish/Why-18-Minutes-for-Matzah.htm.
[3] Rabbi Irving Greenberg, My Jewish Learning. “What Matzah Symbolizes”, accessed March 12, 2023, https://www.myjewishlearning.com/article/matzah-and-morality/.
[4] Or Chadash Sisterhood Sephardic Temple Tifereth Israel. Sephardic Heritage Cookbook Ottoman, Persian, Moroccan, Egyptian Recipes and More. North Charleston: CreateSpace Independent Publishing Platform, 2016. Recipe for “Keftes de Prassa por Pesach” p. 239.

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