Once we were slaves. Now we are free...to eat quinoa.

I love bread. Rye bread in particular.

Since going gluten free last summer, I haven't had it. It hasn't been a struggle. Being homeless would be a struggle. Cutting out a food from my diet is a choice, and an easy one at that.

That said, there are still difficulties to be made during Passover. My diet will remain fairly constant, but I will feel a twinge of guilt if I eat beans, rice, corn or tofu this week. While I believe that there are arbitrary limitations placed on eating these foods in Ashkanazi Jewish traditions, I also believe in tradition. Coming from a long line of people who followed tradition, and somehow managed to survive with them through millennia of persecution, I feel like I owe something to my ancestors by following in their footsteps...for the most part.

I also believe that it's okay to harken back to my Sephardi roots that can theoretically be traced back to 1509, when the entire Jewish population of Chavez, Portugal fled to Poland. Grandma Reb was from Warsaw. If 25 generations ago my family was eating kitniot, I'm pretty comfortable doing it, too. That said, I didn't grow up with Sephardi customs. No one taught me how to inspect rice to make sure it is kosher, or whether fresh, dried or canned beans are okay to eat.

With my giant cookbook collection, I have a healthy number of Passover cookbooks, as well as Sephardi cookbooks. I've done my research there, and online, and by asking friends with different traditions. Everyone has something different to say. Something different to add or subtract.

When I was in Israel for a semester of high school, it was the first time I ate corn and beans during Passover. The rabbis there said it was okay, since you never want to offend your host. It was a revelation. It was like I was freed like the slaves in Egypt! It was my own personal breaking free.

With my family, I follow the tradition we grew up with, the tradition of lots and lots of beige food. At home I will add spices, I'll add color, I'll add texture. At home, I will think of my Portuguese ancestors (who probably had ancestors from Babylonia) while I cook up some Spanish rice to go with my beans and cumin...and I will continue to feel lucky to have such a rich tradition upon which to build.