Subject: Re: Want to know history of cheesecake

From: [email-masked]
Date: Sat, 05 Jun 1993 22:06:23 EST

I wonder if cheesecake had it's origins in pascha?- Pat Churchill, Wellington
New Zealand     

Looking for Pascha in my Larousse Gastonomique - nada  (nyet?) but came across
Paskha - a Russian sweet or dessert "used to be an essential part of the
Easter table in Russia."  Obviously referring to French word for both Easter
and Passover - Paques. (The Pascal lamb is referred to at the Passover seder
meal.)  Paskha recipe calls for cottage cheese, sour cream, butter, salt,
sugar, etc., as well as chopped almonds and seedless raisins. It is mixed
until smooth and placed in a mulin lined dish (traditionally pyramid shaped
says larouse) to drain. It is served on a dessert dish and decorated with
fresh or frozen berries, nuts or crystallized fruit. Notice that there is no
crust (therefore quite aceptable for Passover) - Which makes me wonder could
there possible be any dietary restrictions on eating bread or dough in (eastern)
Orthodox rites at Easter???

Unfortuantely, I have no idea how old this dish is. Then again, maybe you
really did mean pascha....

- B. Lazar

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From: [email-masked] (Rhonda Dollas)
Date: 7 Jun 93 14:52:58 GMT

>meal.) 
Actually, Paques and Pashka share a root rather than Pashka referring to the
French (although the Russian aristocracy were big francophiles).  I don't know
if there is an older word, but the Greek (at least modern) for Easter is Pasxa-
pronounce it pas-ha with a hard h.

 Notice that there is no

>- B. Lazar

I converted from Judaism to Eastern (Greek) Orthodoxy so I am pretty sensitive
to these similarities.  There is no dietary restriction against bread or dough
in Eastern Orthodoxy at Easter (that I know of).  Meat, eggs, milk (animal
products) and oils are not eaten during the Lenten period, then most people
feast on all of those things as soon as "Christ is risen".  So a lot of 
heavily fatty, dairy-laden stuff is served on Easter.  I imagine the absence
of crust is not significant.

Rhonda Dollas