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The most important thing, Dekkers said, is to keep the food light with plenty of interesting produce. "I don't have a problem with heavy food, but I do have a problem with that heavy feeling after a meal," he said. Passover is the holiday most celebrated by Israeli Jews, according to a 2009 survey on religion conducted by the Israeli Central Bureau of Statistics. Even though only about 20 percent of Israeli Jews identify themselves as Orthodox, almost everyone attends a seder. And two-thirds of Israeli Jews refrain from eating chametz throughout the weeklong holiday. To accommodate them, the Israeli food industry transforms. Snack manufacturers replace regular flour with matzoh meal. Cows eat corn and alfalfa instead of hay to prevent a stray grain of chametz from getting into milk. And supermarkets cover up non-kosher products with large sheets, meaning regular breakfast cereals and crackers will be hard to find. For some, the rules can be liberating. Pastry chef Avi Melamedson makes yogurt mousse, poppy cake and a flourless chocolate fudge on the holiday. "I have placed a kind of veto on matzoh meal," Melamedson said. "You can use great raw materials and get quality products without flour." Janna Gur, founder and editor of the Al Hashulchan (On the Table) food magazine, said that in contrast to more adventurous years, Israeli home cooks are currently focusing on their own family recipes from around the Jewish world. "People got tired of trying to reinvent themselves with a completely new seder, and they are going back to tradition," Gur said.
Because the Passover holiday is so sacrosanct in Israel, even bucking it takes special preparation. Lior Hargil owns the Minzar pub in central Tel Aviv. It is one of the few establishments that will remain open on Friday night, when most Israelis will be eating the seder meal. Hargil said he orders beer, which is not kosher for Passover, three weeks before the holiday, holding 200 kegs in a neighboring convenience store to take him through seven days when he cannot fill his taps. He freezes loaves of bread because most bakeries are shuttered, and stockpiles flour because most of the supermarkets nearby won't sell it. "I want a sense of order and a vacation and not to have to run around," he said. And among secular Israelis, he said, "People actually want extra chametz."
[Associated
Press;
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