The Sceptic Blog

1.  From what I see in the shops before Pesach these days, I fear that many people are unwittingly eating food on Pesach that is not kosher l’Pesach according to their own family and community traditions.

2.  Kitniot – rice, beans and pulses – are not chametz.  But the centuries-old ashkenazi minhag is not to eat them on Pesach, for any one of a number of possible reasons.  The sepharadi minhag has always been to allow kitniot on Pesach, and for them they are fully kosher l’Pesach.

3.  An increasing number of foods manufactured for Pesach in Israel contain kitniot, to accommodate the sepharadi majority.  Even surprising things – ice-cream, mayonnaise, ketchup – routinely contain kitniot nowadays.  But the fact is mentioned on the label only in very small Hebrew letters that can be difficult to find and decipher even for those who know what they are looking for.

4.  The shops in London clearly have a duty to put up large notices warning the majority ashkenazi population in this country to watch out for kitniot; and they would do well to label each product on the shelves as kitniot-free or containing kitniot.  I encourage everyone to bring gentle, polite and friendly pressure on the shop-keepers to do this for us.

5.  Until they do, I am worried that many people who want to keep Pesach properly but are not well-versed in these issues and may not be able to read Hebrew are likely unwittingly to bring into their houses for Pesach use products which they would not want to use if they knew the full story.