Rosh Hashanah Food: Dishes for a Sweet New Year

Colorful fruit and snack platter for Rosh Hashanah celebration, featuring grapes, apples, and dried fruits, symbolizing a sweet new year.
Photo: Moshe Bukhman

Rosh Hashanah foods are more than just a filling meal to kick off the Jewish new year. Nearly every dish served during this holiday carries a deep symbolic meaning. We call these symbolic foods simanim, which is Hebrew for “signs” or “indicators.” This is because these foods and the recipes that incorporate them indicate prayers and wishes as well as blessings from God that are often said on Rosh Hashanah. The simanim most commonly associated with Rosh Hashanah are apples and honey, which represent the Jewish people’s wishes for a sweet new year.

Jewish New Year Food: Simanim 

Before diving into Rosh Hashanah dishes, let’s first look at the simanim foods that often shape them. These include apples and honey, though honey specifically is the true siman. As a result, honey is common in Rosh Hashanah foods, adding sweetness for a sweet new year. Along with honey, here are more Rosh Hashanah simanim and what they represent:

  • Pomegranates – Called rimon in Hebrew, pomegranates are one of the seven species of Israel and represents wishes of new experiences in the new year. This is because pomegranates are referred to as the “new fruit” in the Shehechiyanu blessing said at Rosh Hashanah dinner. 
  • Carrots – Called gezer in Hebrew, which sounds like the word g’zar meaning “decree.” When Jews eat carrots on Rosh Hashanah, they are wishing for increased blessings from God so that He may negate any bad decreases against them. 
  • Fish – Many Rosh Hashanah dishes use fish because of the ancient notion that fish must continuously swim to stay alive. Like fish must be constantly swimming, God’s people must be constant in their awareness of Him and opportunities to do good in the new year. 
  • Vegetables – Traditional Rosh Hashanah foods also include vegetables, which represent a separation from anything negative. The Hebrew words for leek and gourd are kareyt and k’ra respectively, which both mean to rip or to cut. These are linked to prayers wherein Jews wish any evil decrees or wishes against them to be literally cut out. 
  • Heads – Rosh Hasanah is referred to as the “head” of the new year. As such, heads of both animals and vegetables are often served. This can be the head of a fish or a head of lettuce. The traditional Rosh Hashanah food is a sheep’s head, which some substitute with smaller heads of garlic as a simanim. 
  • Challah –The round shape of a loaf of challah bread for Rosh Hashanah represents the cycle of the year and how it begins again. 

Rosh Hashanah Appetizers and Dishes 

With the simanim of Jewish New Year food in mind, what kind of appetizers, entrees, and desserts are served? Favorites like challah bread, matzo ball soup, and brisket are all part of most Rosh Hashanah dinners. But here are some other ways that families complete their festive spread. 

Rosh Hashanah Appetizers 

  • Carrot and vegetable fritters – These latke-like fritters use the simanim of carrots, leaks, and lettuce, starting the head of the new year with wishes for God’s blessings
  • Smoked salmon and gefilte fish – Rosh Hashanah is these fish-based appetizers’ time to shine. Even as they are enjoyed by Jewish families throughout the year, fish remain a symbol for awareness of God. 
  • Cream of vegetable soups – Incorporate carrots and squash into soups, representing warm Rosh Hashanah wishes. 
  • Apples, honey, and challah – The apples and honey are served alongside a loaf of challah bread for Rosh Hashanah and even enjoyed together. Some Jews even bake apples into their bread. 

Rosh Hashanah Dishes 

  • Honey-mustard salmon with pomegranate sauce – Three simanim—honey, fish, and pomegranates—come together for a dish that welcomes the good deeds of the new year. The salmon can be replaced with chicken. 
  • Apple noodle kugel – Apples, combined with sugar and cinnamon, mixed well with egg noodles for a sweet and crunchy kugel. Peeling the apples also gives them a better texture. 
  • Chicken or brisket with vegetables – A popular combination is brisket with oven-roasted vegetables like carrots and celery, which can be considered a simanim because it’s in the same family as carrots. Sweet-and-sour sauces made with honey are often used for the meat of choice. 
  • Tzimmes – A Jewish vegetable stew-like dish made from potatoes and carrots along with dried fruit like plums and prunes that is served on every Jewish holiday. For Rosh Hashanah, it symbolizes hope. 
A slice of traditional Rosh Hashanah apple cake topped with vanilla ice cream on a white plate, symbolizing sweetness for the new year.

Rosh Hashanah Desserts

After a hearty meal of Rosh Hashanah dishes, it’s time to move on to the dessert course. Naturally, apples and honey are incorporated into these sweet treats. It’s common to have them baked into cookies, cakes, and pies. Other simanim  can be used to make the following Rosh Hashanah desserts:

  • Carrot cake – Carrots have been used throughout the Rosh Hashanah meals and dessert is no exception with this classic dish. 
  • Apples and honey upside down cake – This Rosh Hashanah twist on the pineapple upside down cake will delight anyone after a meal. 
  • Carrot kugel – It’s especially fun to cut the carrots like noodles or bake it as muffins. 
  • Cinnamon apple challah – Adding apples to the dough and quite literally spicing it up with cinnamon creates a dessert table worthy loaf for the Jewish New Year. 

What is Rosh Hashanah? Learn more about the Jewish New Year. 

Listen to our podcast on the Jewish New Year as it grows closer.