Passover (Pesach) is a time of celebration for the Jewish community – and much of the commemoration revolves around food. This eight day, early spring holiday celebrates the deliverance of the Jewish people from slavery in Egypt.
The Passover seder begins the holiday, occurring after sundown at the beginning of the holiday and involves gathering family and close friends, readings, wine, stories, food and often singing. It is such a popular holiday that even fairly non-observant Jewish people will celebrate, so we thought it would be helpful to have low FODMAP passover recipes & tips to create the best seder possible.
The typical seder foods and drink include wine, vegetables dipped in salt water, matzah, bitter herbs such as horseradish and charoset (a mixture of nuts, apples and/or pears and wine). These are part of the formal Passover ritual that may or may not be part of your seder.
There is an avoidance of leavened bread signifying the fact that the Jewish people left Egypt in haste and did not have time for their breads to rise, hence the inclusion of matzah, a flat, unleavened “bread” (which is more like a cracker, texture-wise).
Many less observant families simply gather and have a celebratory dinner, often making the same recipes again and again that have been handed down from previous generations.
So, how do you throw a Low FODMAP seder? If you or a family member is following the Low FODMAP diet this is probably a question that has been swirling about in your mind.
Here’s the good news. There are plenty of Low FODMAP passover recipes that work with the Low FODMAP diet!
We are not rabbis here. For a fuller explanation as to why gluten-free matzah are, or are not, considered proper, read this article from Chabad.org.
For those of you who are willing to have a gluten free, Low FODMAP passover matzah on your seder table, we have found a few brands that fit the bill – with a caveat. They will often have some statement on the label such as “not a replacement for seder matzah” (see above linked article). But all we can suggest is that you look for ingredient lists that are free of any high FODMAP ingredients and hope that you have your rabbi’s blessing. A decent Low FODMAP label might list tapioca starch, water, potato starch, eggs, dehydrated potatoes, oil, sugar and salt. This is a matzah that we would try while on a Low FODMAP diet.
We want to wish all of our Jewish friends a healthy and happy Passover holiday!