Vegan Rosh Hashanah Symbolic Foods (“Simanim”): Plant-Based Jewish New Year Omens

As we welcome Rosh Hashanah, the Jewish new year, we reimagine the simanim—the omens, or the symbolic foods of Rosh Hashanah—for a contemporary, plant-based table, a vegan Rosh Hashanah Seder, the Holiday’s ritual meal. This guide is offered in an egalitarian and inclusive spirit, adapting ancient traditions to reflect our values of justice and compassion.

The Simanim (Hebrew for “signs” or “omens”) are symbolic foods eaten at the Rosh Hashanah meal, each carrying hopes and blessings for the new year. This beautiful tradition, rooted in the Talmud (Horayot 12a), uses wordplay and symbolism to express our deepest wishes for the year ahead. For the selection of the omens, we follow the sequence given in the ArtScroll Rosh Hashanah Machzor (Hasidic, Nusach Sefard). Be aware that different communities do have slightly different omens. In our approach, these foods remind us not only of renewal and sweetness but also of the deeper values we want to carry into the year: justice, freedom, and responsibility for all.

After the Kiddush, a piece of round challah is traditionally dipped in honey, but we replace it with date syrup, the “honey” of the Bible, drawing its sweetness directly from dates. This substitution not only aligns with our vegan principles but also honors ancient tradition, as the “land of milk and honey” in the Torah refers to the sweetness of dates, not that of bees. A piece is shared with all participants before the symbolic foods are eaten.

Afterward, we begin with the symbolic foods, the Simanim. We take a small bite of each omen and then speak both the corresponding explanation and express our wishes for the coming year. May this be a good and sweet year for us and everyone around us.

The greatest challenge in creating vegan simanim lies in substituting for fish—not just finding a plant-based alternative, but preserving the essential Hebrew and Aramaic wordplay that gives the tradition its meaning. Interestingly, while many Jews eat fish for its symbolism of abundance, there are some—particularly in Sephardic communities—who avoid it. In Hebrew, the word for fish, dag, sounds too much like the word for worry, da’ahgah, so they choose to avoid it for a peaceful new year. While the traditional head (of fish or sheep) is easily replaced with a head of garlic or head of cabbage—both deeply rooted in Jewish cuisine—finding a substitute for fish that maintains the linguistic symbolism requires more creativity. Our solution uses fenugreek (Hilbe), a Mediterranean herb that would have been familiar to European Jewish communities, whose name carries the same linguistic roots meaning “to multiply” and “abundance” that make fish symbolically powerful in this ritual.

This creative adaptation reflects something more unsettling than mere culinary innovation—it echoes the restless spirit of Jewish Vienna, where assimilated intellectuals perpetually negotiated between tradition and modernity, often with profound ambivalence. Those fin-de-siècle figures who transformed European thought—from Freud’s uncomfortable truths to Schoenberg’s deliberate dissonances—weren’t simply “honoring heritage through innovation.” They were wrestling with the impossible task of remaining rooted while pulling up roots, of preserving what they were simultaneously dismantling.

Today’s vegan simanim present their own paradox: we adapt ancient rituals not just for dietary preference but as acts of ethical resistance—against industrial animal agriculture, environmental collapse, the commodification of tradition itself. Yet there’s something almost absurd about substituting fenugreek for fish while invoking the same Talmudic authorities who never imagined such substitutions, or placing a head of garlic—however symbolically apt—where our ancestors would have seen the actual head of a living being. Like our Viennese predecessors, we find ourselves in the awkward position of revolutionizing the very traditions we claim to preserve, wondering if innovation and authenticity can coexist—or if the tension between them is precisely the point.

Traditional Simanim: The Rosh Hashanah Seder

After Kiddush, we continue our meal with a piece of round challah dipped into date syrup—the biblical “honey”—followed by the symbolic foods, starting with the apple and date syrup, and then continuing with the other omens in no particular order.

Apple Dipped in Date Syrup—the biblical “honey”

• Symbolism: We begin our meal with the apple for a sweet and happy new year. The apple also holds biblical significance, symbolizing the pursuit of knowledge and the sense of awe that comes with our place in the world. The date syrup, our biblical “honey,” symbolizes both the sweetness of life and our connection to the land.

Carrots (Mehren)

• Symbolism: The Yiddish name, Mehren, also means “to increase.” We hope that our good deeds and merits will increase.

Leek (Karti)

• Symbolism: The Aramaic name, Karti, sounds like the Hebrew word for “to cut off.” We hope that obstacles and adversaries will be “cut off” from us.

Beet (Silka)

• Symbolism: The Aramaic name, Silka, sounds like the Hebrew word for “to depart” or “to remove.” We hope that all adversity will depart from us.

Dates (Tamri)

• Symbolism: The Hebrew name, Tamri, sounds like the Hebrew word for “to end.” We hope that all hostility in our lives will come to an end.

Gourd (Kara)

• Symbolism: The Hebrew name, K’ra, has a powerful double meaning. It can mean “to tear up,” symbolizing the hope that all negative judgments and decrees against us will be torn up. It also means “to proclaim” or “to announce,” as we hope that our merits will be proclaimed and recognized, even as we hope that harsh decrees against us are torn up.

Pomegranate (Rimon)

• Symbolism: The symbolism for most of the foods lies in their name; for the pomegranate (rimon), however, according to the Talmud, symbolism lies in the fruit itself. The pomegranate is associated with fruitfulness and justice. A well-known tradition says it has 613 seeds — symbolically linked to the 613 mitzvot (commandments) — though of course real pomegranates vary. We taste the seeds in the hope that our lives will be full of good deeds, responsibility, and care for one another. We hope that our merits will multiply like the many seeds of a pomegranate.

Fenugreek (Hilbe) instead of fish

• Symbolism: This vegan omen stands in for the fish. Its Hebrew name, Hilbe, and the Aramaic name, rubiya, both mean “to multiply” and “abundance.” We hope that we will multiply and flourish like fish in the water.

Roasted Garlic Head

• Symbolism: To be the “head and not the tail,” referencing Devarim (דְּבָרִים, Deuteronomy) 28:13. We hope that we will lead and not follow in our endeavors.

Additional Omens

Over the centuries, communities added humorous or localized omens as well—reminders that tradition can also be joyful and creative.

Banana

• Symbolism: It sounds like the French phrase bonne année (“good year”), a humorous wish for a good new year.

Celery and Raisin Salad

• Symbolism: This omen is an English pun. The sound of raisins and celery is similar to the phrase “raise in salary“—a wish for more prosperity in the new year.

Quince

• Symbolism: The plural of the word for quince in southern Hasidic Yiddish, kittes, sounds like gites, meaning “good,” as in “good year.” We hope for a year filled with good things.

Have a sweet vegan Rosh Hashanah—and may your table be filled with justice, freedom, responsibility, and joy!

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