For Jews who spent time in Central and Eastern Europe, a ¾ done dill pickle made a perfect teething ring. A pickle has everything you could want in abundance: it’s cold, crunchy, salty, sour, and redolent with dill. A real dill pickle is fished out of a barrel.

Pickles are like most Jewish food, born of the necessity to take something inexpensive and give it major impact. What could be more inexpensive than the lowly cucumber. What could pack more of a wallop than a pickle?

The perfect Jewish food.