So-Called "Shabbos Food"

One of the office employees was invited over to our employer's home for Friday night, since she lives in the same neighborhood. While not Jewish, she grew up in a rather Jew-y area and went to public school with lots of Jewish classmates, so she's familiar with our shtick. 

She ended up reviewing the happenings of the dinner with me afterwards, like why it was so quiet after the hand washing. She then hesitantly brought up the disturbing horror of "gefilte fish." 

I explained that the "traditional" Shabbos foods are, in actuality, peasant food. "Where people lived, in land-locked Eastern Europe, everything was expensive or hard to get. Fish. Chicken. Meat. They could only manage to get or afford a little bit. So they stretched it. Fish was mixed with filler. Chicken turned into soup. A bit of meat was mixed with beans and became cholent. But, the thing is, today? We can get salmon. A whole slab of it." 

That's why I laugh when people get defensive of, or even worship, "traditional" Shabbos food. Taste of Gan-Eden and all that jazz. Don't get me wrong, I like gefilte fish. Mmm, on a piece of matzah, munch munch. But is it heilig? Er, no. 

Shabbos food is supposed to be elevated, expensive, right? So it's kinda bizarre when people dine on whole fish during the week, then revert to the Frankenstein peasant loaf on Shabbos. Well, maybe the fine china helps. 

So if anyone has been guilted that they aren't eating the "right" foods on Shabbos, that's bushwa. Shabbos food is what you enjoy, for richer or poorer.