I always get excited during Passover season, aka “Festival of Freedom.” Passover in Hebrew is known as Pesach which means to pass over. This day serves as a remembrance of when God passed over the Jewish homes when killing the Egyptian firstborn on the very first Passover eve.

Eight days of no bread, pasta, or anything else that has yeast in it may not seem exciting to some, but it brings back a lot of great memories for me. As a kid, it was always a time that I looked forward to. My mom’s side of the family would come over to have our big dinner known as Passover Sedar and each day we would get different foods in our lunch boxes—since we couldn’t eat most items sold at school.

Coming to Plymouth State from a town outside of Boston, I knew I wouldn’t be able to go home as frequently as I’d like, but after four years, it finally started to get to me. I missed my mom’s cooking, my family, and feeling like I was a part of my culture, not to mention the challenges of no one knowing what holidays you celebrate. Despite these challenges, I’ve come to find that celebrating in Plymouth, New Hampshire comes with some challenges—but not impossible! If you are like me two years ago, stuck on campus & struggling to find kosher friendly options, below are some tips and tricks:

• Reach out to whoever used to make kosher food for you as a kid. (ie mom, dad, grandma, other guardian), and ask them for some simple recipes
• Go to Hannaford; they have a large kosher section
• If you live in a student apartment or off campus, you should have no problem cooking. If you live in a residence hall, maybe this will be the push you need to finally use the community kitchen!
• We all love matzo ball soup, but eating it every. single. day. can make for a very long week. You can still have pizza and all of your favorite foods, you just need to substitute and get creative. Matzo pizza is delicious—just layer it a little so the sauce doesn’t seep through
• If you’re like me and will end up craving dessert. Try making this simple flourless chocolate cake—it’s amazing.
• Potatoes, if they’re not already, will become your best friend. I personally like making sweet potato fries in the oven. Chop them up, throw some olive oil, salt and pepper on there, bake them for about forty minutes, and you’re good to go!
• Breakfast can be tough, but doable. If you you’re a cereal eater, unfortunately you’re going to have to give it up for the week. But, peanut butter on matzo tastes great. And if you’re an avocado toast person, just replace the bread with the matzo and it pretty much tastes the same.
• Pro tip: Tortilla chips are not kosher! Make sure that if you’re eating chips, that they’re potato chips

The eight days will be over before you know it, and you can celebrate that by diving into a big bowl of pasta!

Jordan Rosenburg ’17 currently works within University Advancement as the Assistant Director for Annual Giving at Plymouth State University. During her time at PSU, she earned a B.A. in Communication Studies and was awarded the 2017 Outstanding Communication and Media Studies Graduating Senior Award. In addition to these accomplishments, she served as the President for the Communication Honors Society (LPH), and the Vice President of the University Film Club. In her free time, Jordan enjoys writing analysis on Television and Film.