Not Pictured: Jews Eating Food

You'll love America, Golde. All the blintzes you can eat!

What was known as Jewish food in Europe by the turn of the 19th century was a combination of different traditions.  Much of it, even the bagel, may have been an influence of local non-Jewish food traditions.  Other foods had religious roots.  In fact, Matzah was the opposite of gentile-influenced foods because the communion wafer was ultimately based off of Jewish tradition.  This did not work to the Jews advantage when Christians connected the two during blood libels.

Jews ate mainly based on how they could feed their families.  Because the laws of kashrut prohibit meat and dairy being eaten at the same meal, meat and dairy (or respectively flaishek and milchik in Yiddish), meat and dairy dishes evolved separately.  Since meat is traditionally more expensive than dairy, that means that there are lots of options today for the Jewish vegetarian (a laughable concept 100 years ago).

Sources

Images from www.everystockphoto.com

Europe Map: San Jose

Fiddler on the Roof: Zoe Goodacre

http://www.forward.com/articles/14502/

www.ou.org

http://www.jewishencyclopedia.com/view.jsp?artid=938&letter=H&search=host%20desecartion