{"id":774277,"date":"2026-09-18T03:12:22","date_gmt":"2026-09-18T03:12:22","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/774277\/"},"modified":"2026-09-18T03:12:22","modified_gmt":"2026-09-18T03:12:22","slug":"the-big-break-fast-five-foodies-share-their-go-to-yom-kippur-meals","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/774277\/","title":{"rendered":"The big break fast: five foodies share their go-to Yom Kippur meals"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"FoodFood writer Alissa Timoshkina (Picture: Lizzi Mayson)[Missing Credit] <\/p>\n

Alissa Timoshkina, food writer<\/a><\/p>\n

I didn\u2019t grow up with any Jewish tradition back in the former Soviet Union, and only really began connecting with my heritage in a meaningful way when I became a mother. This means that most of our custom and practice is relatively new to me but I love exploring it all with my children, and cooking has been my way in.<\/p>\n

My great grandma\u2019s poppy seed loaf is a signature bake in our family, but it was never attached to any religious holidays. So when I learnt that for some Jews it is a traditional cake to serve after Yom Kippur, it made perfect sense and I started doing it too. As well as being nostalgic for me, this is also a satisfying cake that is full of nutrients so it ticked all the boxes. I have a slice with a cup of oat latte (because I have to add my north London persona to the ritual too!).<\/p>\n

\"ChefChef Mark Jankel (Photo: Blake Ezra)[Missing Credit] <\/p>\n

Mark Jankel, chef and founder of Osher<\/a><\/p>\n

When I was growing up, you\u2019d get back home, and the first thing you\u2019d do is have a cup of tea. Then it was proper Ashkenazi feast: probably some fried fish balls, chopped liver, that sort of thing. But since being introduced to the Sephardi tradition by my wife\u2019s family everything has changed \u2013 apart from that cup of tea.<\/p>\n

My wife\u2019s family has a recipe that is loosely based around the Moroccan fish stew chraime. They mince up the fish and make little patties \u2013 ktzitzot, as they\u2019re known in Israel \u2013 with spices (we buy a chraime spice mix from a guy called Israel in HaTikva market in Tel Aviv, but paprika and ras el hanout work), some challah, ginger, coriander and parsley. You fry the patties on both sides, and then cook them in a tomato sauce made from onions, celery, chopped tomatoes and more of the spices, and bake it all in the oven for a couple of hours.<\/p>\n

I like to eat it with amba-tahini (which I make by mixing the two sauces together), loads of fresh coriander and some challah. It\u2019s one of those dishes that makes you feel emotional while you\u2019re eating it.<\/p>\n

\"FoodFood influencer Falmer (Photo: Hannah Couzens)[Missing Credit] <\/p>\n

Falmer, food influencer<\/a>
About four years ago I went straight in for the honey cake, bagels, all the heavy stuff, and I felt absolutely terrible, so now I ease myself in with something light. In a realistic world, this is a cup of tea and maybe some dates, but ideally I\u2019ll break my fast with my chicken bone broth.<\/p>\n

I make my bone broth with a chicken carcass, mirepoix (onions, carrot, celery), lemon, ginger, turmeric and cayenne pepper. This year I\u2019ll make a massive batch so all my family can have it. It feels so good to replenish your body and soul with something that\u2019s nutritional, tasty, and easy on the stomach.<\/p>\n

We break the fast at my aunty and uncles house, and have a traditional Ashkenazi spread \u2013 basically a \u2018make your own bagel bar\u2019 with tuna, smoked salmon, egg and onion, some pickled herring for my dad, crisps and honey cake.<\/p>\n

When I have my own family I think we\u2019ll probably spice it up a little bit. I definitely want to carry on my family traditions, but I love spice, and just anything that\u2019s not gefilte fish to be honest!<\/p>\n

\"Iraqi-bornIraqi-born cookbook author Sophia Baruch (Photo: Giora Hirsch)[Missing Credit] <\/p>\n

Sophia Baruch, author Bil\u2019eifi: The Taste of My Iraqi Home<\/a>
Growing up in Baghdad, we would start the fast with two dishes: timmen ahmar plao b\u2019gig (red rice, raisins and shredded chicken) and shorba bel gig wil timmen (chicken soup with rice) \u2013 which both keep you full for a long time.<\/p>\n

To break the fast we would start milky, with chai mechader (brewed tea), ka\u2019kat (a soft, circular bread), sambusek (little pastries which we fill with cheese or walnuts) and mechbouz b\u2019tamir (date cookies). All of the pastries are made with the same dough, and all of the recipes I\u2019ve mentioned are in my book. Then, because we would break the fast early \u2013 around 6.30 or 7 \u2013 around 9.30\/10ish, we would go back to the shorba.<\/p>\n

Nowadays, things are a little different \u2013 we live in London, so we have adapted. We don\u2019t have the meat course, as we break the fast much later here, but we still have the brewed tea and all the pastries, and my daughters make carrot cake, cheesecake and scones. So we still keep our Iraqi traditions, but with an English touch!<\/p>\n

\"Shedletsky'sShedletsky’s pickles co-founder Natalie Preston (Photo: Natalie Preston)[Missing Credit] <\/p>\n

Natalie Preston, co-founder Shedletsky\u2019s pickles<\/a>
We usually have about eight friends over \u2013 people who, like us, don\u2019t have family nearby \u2013 which I love: a magical moment of togetherness after such spiritually and physically an intense day.<\/p>\n

Food wise, we do a big spread. We have a bagel platter (with bagels from Shaloms in Gants Hill), a fish platter (featuring smoked salmon, mackerel dip, fish balls \u2013 unsweetened, because we aren\u2019t mad!), a couple of salads for freshness (last year I made a tomato panzanella with challah and a roasted pepper salad), a crudit\u00e9 plate with labneh, hummus and olives, a cheese board \u2013 and, of course, all the Shedletsky\u2019s pickles! My husband, James, also makes a lentil soup, and last year I made vegan lox (with carrots, capers, seaweed and smoked seasoning) as one of our guests didn\u2019t eat fish.<\/p>\n

For something sweet, we have a fruit platter and chocolate mousse. Drinks wise, traditionally we keep it simple with water and tea, but this year I\u2019ll also be handing out pickle juice shots, as it\u2019s fantastic for dehydration and electrolytes and very on-brand!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Food writer Alissa Timoshkina (Picture: Lizzi Mayson)[Missing Credit] Alissa Timoshkina, food writer I didn\u2019t grow up with any…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":774278,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[45],"tags":[251207,255415,102,255417,60727,6636,255416,56,54,55,78464],"class_list":["post-774277","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-nutrition","tag-ashkenazi-food","tag-comfort-food-recipe","tag-health","tag-iraqi-jews","tag-jewish-food","tag-nutrition","tag-sephardi-cooking","tag-uk","tag-united-kingdom","tag-unitedkingdom","tag-yom-kippur"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/774277","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=774277"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/774277\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/774278"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=774277"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=774277"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=774277"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}