Every time Ashley Meral went to get food out of her fridge this week, there was a bagel staring at her.
During a typical week, the 20-year-old accounting junior would have gladly indulged, but her craving was curbed by Passover, the Jewish holiday celebrated April 6 through last Saturday.
Meral was one of about 50 UF students who feasted on pasta, pizza and cake Saturday night at Hillel to celebrate the end of Passover.
This variety of carbs and leavened foods, or “chametz” in Hebrew, are forbidden during the holiday.
They’re replaced by matzo, the traditional Jewish unleavened bread.
“All I want to do is eat bread, and this matzo tastes like cardboard,” Meral said. “I’m so tired of just eating matzo and nothing but matzo. I’ve tried to substitute out meals with fruit and stuff like that, but I always end up eating the matzo.”
Laura Kaler, a 19-year-old accounting freshman, couldn’t wait to eat a cookie.
“I have a sweet tooth,” she said, “and I haven’t really had any dessert for a week.”
Meral said it’s important for her to keep Passover because it is one of the commandments in the Torah.
“It’s something I’ve always done,” she said, “but it’s not something that I’ve always, by the end, wanted to do.”
