Kashrut
Among the numerous laws that form "kashrut" are prohibitions on the consumption of certain animals (such as pork and shellfish), mixtures of meat and milk, and the commandment to slaughter mammals and birds according to a process known as "shechita". There are also laws regarding agricultural produce that might impact the suitability of food for consumption.
Syrian Jewish cuisine
Since biblical times there have been Jews in the area comprising modern-day Syria. Syrian Jewish cuisine is distinct from Ashkenazi Jewish cuisine foods like gefilte fish, knish, or other dishes more familiar as Jewish in the United States, whose Jewish community was overwhelmingly Ashkenazi. In fact, in the diaspora Syrian Jewish dishes often differ from those of other Jews because they contain rice and dried fruits and other seasonings not found in other regional Jewish foodway. Because Jews are prohibited to mix meat and dairy, Syrian Jewish cuisine differed from standard Syrian cuisine because it used oil instead of butter or lamb fat in fried foods. After 1492 when the Sephardim were expelled from Spain, many Sephardic Jews came to Syria and brought a few dishes with Spanish names like "bastel". Some immigrants from Italy in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries (the so-called "Francos") brought with them Italian dishes such as "calsone" (a sort of cheese ravioli). These foods were intermixed with the local Syrian Mizrahi and Musta'arabi Jewish cuisine creating new flavors and styles. Syrian Jews also improved versions of Syrian dishes, by emphasizing fruit and sweet-sour flavors. The Syrian Jews of Aleppo also made heavy use of tamarind. In fact tamarind based sauces are distinctively unique to Syrian Jewish cuisine.