Creating a Traditional Vegan Passover Seder

(Excerpted from the upcoming The Vegan Table: 200 Unforgettable Recipes for Entertaining Every Guest at Every Occasion.)

A Jewish holiday observed by most Jews, Passover (Pesach) commemorates their exodus out of Egypt, from slavery to freedom. A vegan Seder is not only traditional in its own right, it reflects the principles of freedom and mercy that signify this holiday.

Matzoh
The most significant observance involves the removal of leavened foods and the serving of matzoh commemorating the fact that the Jews leaving Egypt did not have time to let their bread rise. Matzoh, unleavened bread made from flour and water, can be used as flour (for cookies and cakes), meal (for bread crumbs), farfel (a noodle or bread cube substitute), and full-sized matzohs (as bread). Matzoh is eaten three times during the Seder.

Seder Plate
The Seder Plate is a special plate containing six symbolic foods used to retell the story of the exodus.

*Charoset, a mixture of fruit and ground nuts soaked in wine, represents the mortar used to cement bricks when the Jews were slaves in Egypt.
*Parsley, celery, or other green herbs dipped in salt water, symbolize spring and new life, as well as the tears of the Jewish slaves.
*Freshly grated horseradish, sometimes mixed with cooked beets and sugar, symbolizes the harshness of slavery.
*Bitter herbs, such as the bitter-tasting roots of romaine lettuce, are also used to signify the bitterness of slavery.
*Jewish vegans replace the egg, a symbol of fertility and new creation, with a flower or roasted nuts. Some even use a miniature white egg-sized eggplant, whose stem has been removed.
*Jewish vegans replace the “shankbone,” meant to symbolize the sacrificial lamb, and point out that even the Talmud explicitly allows for roasted beets to be used in its stead.

Make Your Own Seder Plate
You can purchase decorative “Seder plates,” which are designed to section off the plate for the various elements, naming them in Hebrew as well as English. Vegan versions are not yet available, so a friend of mine went to one of those paint-it-yourself pottery stores and created her own vegan Seder plate, designating a place for the Haroset, Parsley (or “Greens”), Horseradish, Bitter Herbs, Beetroot, and Eggplant.

Passover menus are in the new cookbook, which won't be out until June. One of the recipes, however (Matzoh Ball Soup) can be found at the Compassionate Cooks Message Board. Look for this Passover Menu in The Vegan Table:

*Charoset
*Matzoh Ball Soup or Traditional Vegetable Soup
*Passover Pizza
*Matzoh Chocolate Brittle