Customs of food and drink
The customs around eating and drinking: feasts, fasts, hosting and ceremony. Not recipes.
EveryParampara follows the customs around food, not the dishes: the blessing before a meal, the order in which guests are served, the feast that marks a day, the fast and how it is broken, the ceremony of pouring tea. A named food appears here only where it has a role in the custom, such as the sweet offered at a shrine or the bread broken at a Sabbath table. For dishes, recipes and cuisines, see Thali, our food guide.
Meals as rituals
Many meals are ritual in themselves: the Passover seder follows a script, the iftar ends a day of fasting with a prayer, a wedding feast has toasts in a set order. EveryParampara lists these by country and by meal, with the dates where the day moves each year.
Manners at the table
Table customs vary widely: eating with the right hand, sharing a single dish, waiting for the eldest to begin, leaving a little on the plate or clearing it entirely. A guest learns the rules by watching, and a host will forgive mistakes. Behind the rules is a simple idea: the meal is a way of showing respect.
Written by the EveryParampara desk with AI assistance. Background on Customs of food and drink (kind of tradition). Customs differ from place to place and family to family. If this is your tradition and we have it wrong, tell us.
🇹🇷 Turkey and 5 moreEid al-Fitrعيد الفطر
The feast that ends Ramadan, opened with morning prayers, sweets and visits homeFestival · Feasts and festival meals
🇮🇱 Jerusalem, IsraelPassoverפסח
A Jewish spring festival celebrating freedom from slavery with ritual mealsSpiritual · Dinner
🇹🇷 TurkeyRamadan in Turkey
A holy month of fasting, prayer, and community meals, observed across Turkey with unique local customs.Spiritual · Fasting and breaking the fast
🇮🇱 IsraelMishloach manotמשלוח מנות
Food parcels exchanged on Purim, so everyone has plenty for the day's festive mealSpiritual · Feasts and festival meals
🇮🇱 Jerusalem, IsraelPassover Sederסדר פסח
A ritual meal opening Passover, told over wine, matzah and symbolic foodsSpiritual · Feasts and festival meals
🇹🇷 Turkey and 6 moreHıdırellez
A spring festival marking the meeting of two prophets, celebrated across Turkey and the Balkans.Festival · Feasts and festival meals
🇮🇷 Amol, Iran and 3 moreTirganتیرگان (Tirgān)
An ancient Iranian summer festival of water, poetry and rainbow bands, kept on the thirteenth day of Tir.Festival · Feasts and festival meals
🇮🇱 Israel and 5 moreChallahחַלָּה
A braided Jewish bread, blessed and shared at Shabbat and holiday tablesTable custom · Feasts and festival meals
🇮🇷 Mashhad, Iran and 7 moreIftarإفطار
The sunset meal that breaks the Ramadan fast, eaten with family and communityTable custom · Fasting and breaking the fast
🇱🇧 Beirut, Lebanon and 7 moreEid il-Burbaraعيد البربارة
A winter feast of costumes, sweet boiled wheat, and sprouting seeds across the LevantFestival · Feasts and festival meals
🇵🇸 al-Khader, PalestineFeast of Saint George
An annual gathering of Palestinian Christians and Muslims honouring Saint GeorgeSpiritual · Feasts and festival meals
🇮🇱 IsraelEve of Passover on Shabbatערב פסח
Special Jewish calendar customs when the eve of Passover coincides with the SabbathSeasonal · Dinner
🇮🇶 IraqShabbat mealsסעודות שבת
Three ritual meals eaten across the Jewish Sabbath from Friday sunset to Saturday nightTable custom · Dinner
🇨🇾 Limassol, CyprusWine Festival of CyprusΓιορτή του Κρασιού
An annual autumn celebration of winemaking, folklore and food in Limassol, CyprusFestival · Tea, coffee and drinking ceremonies
Photo credits on this page
The small pictures above come from Wikimedia Commons under free licences. Some are cropped to fit.
- Eid al-Fitr: Mohammed Tawsif Salam, CC BY-SA 4.0, source
- Tirgan: LACIPETO, CC BY-SA 4.0, source
- Mishloach manot: Yoninah, CC BY 2.5, source
- Passover Seder: Unknown author, Public domain, source
- Ramadan in Turkey: Wiki leylek, CC BY-SA 4.0, source
- Iftar: Shariful Islam (Masum), CC BY-SA 4.0, source
- Hıdırellez: Правительство Республики Крым, CC BY 4.0, source
- Passover: User:RadRafe~commonswiki, Public domain, source
- Eid il-Burbara: Durziil89, CC0, source
- Wine Festival of Cyprus: George M. Groutas, CC BY 2.0, source
- Feast of Saint George: Onceinawhile, CC BY-SA 4.0, source
- Eve of Passover on Shabbat: בעלת הזכויות - טלי אמתי, CC BY-SA 4.0, source
- Shabbat meals: Yoninah, Public domain, source