My ex-husband is Jewish although not observant by any stretch. But his parents were Conservative Jews, which means, as far as I can tell, they attend Synagogue regularly and have separate dishes for milk-based and meat-based meals and celebrate all the Jewish holidays. My ex and I used to attend the big holiday meals, for Rosh Hashanah and Passover, and wow did I love the food. My mother is an awful cook (and my daughter assures me I have inherited this trait) and our family never went out to restaurants so I was very deprived, food-wise, growing up. I never had cheese that was not pasturized-processed pre-sliced American Cheese until I was 15. That's also how old I was the first time I had a bagel. So traditional Jewish food was new and exciting to me, and my first experience with a bona fide ethnic cuisine.
Although one of my favorite Jewish dishes, kugel, at least classic kugel, is basically glorified mac-and-cheese, as this Alton Brown recipe demonstrates, but there are many variations, including with raisins and with broccoli. Mmm yummy.
