A parable.

[xiphias]

A man goes to his rebbe with a question:

"Rebbe, why is it that we eat kugel on Shabbos?"

"It is because the numerical value of the word 'kugel; is the same as the word 'Shabbos'." ¹

The man nodded, and turned to leave, satisfied. But before he got halfway home, he stopped, thought a moment, and ran back to the rebbe.

"Rebbe -- the numerical value of 'Shabbos' is MUCH greater than the value of 'kugel'!" he said.

"So, nu, have another piece."

¹ In Hebrew, each letter has a value, which is how Classical Hebrew tended to present numbers. That also means that you can add up the values of the letters in a word, to get the value of the word. And there is a common thing you do to take words of equal value, and connect them. In this case, the words are שבת, Shabbat/Shabbos (depending on accent), and קוגל, "kugel". Shin = 300, Bet = 2, Tav = 400, for a total of 602 for "Shabbat"; Kuf = 100, Vav = 6, Gimmel = 3, Lamed = 30, for a total of 139 for "kugel". Naturally, this means that you ought to have 4 ¹⁄₃ pieces of kugel on Shabbat.

Comments

[fauxklore]

Both lukshen kugel and potato kugel are made of starchy foods bound with eggs and baked. And there is savory non-dairy lukshen kugel, too, often with onions and mushrooms in it.

The word is usually translated as "pudding" which is rather confusing.

[gilana]

My mom also makes a sweet parve (non-dairy) kugel, sometimes with fruit in it.

Also, this story is hilarious, and I have just sent it to my whole family.

[xiphias.livejournal.com]

Yes, of all the things that a kugel might be, it's NOT a pudding, either by the United States meaning OR the British meaning.

(The British meaning of "pudding" is "dessert", while, in America, what we call a "pudding", they call a "custard", and what we call a "custard", they call a "flan", and what we call a "flan", they call a . . . well, as far as I know, they call it a "flan", too. But our "flan" is specifically the one of Spanish origin with eggs that's served un-molded (or un-moulded) with orange sauce. "Kugel" does not fit ANY of these definitions, except that you could use SOME lokshen kugels as desserts, but they're generally used as side dishes, even if they're sweet.)

[fauxklore]

Actually, there is a precedent for a baked starchy dish being called a pudding in English. Namely, Yorkshire pudding, which is basically a large popover.

And then there is Indian pudding (and, as a New Englander, you may also be familiar with grape nut pudding) though that is sweetened. There's even hasty pudding which is, essentially, polenta. (Indian pudding is hasty pudding made with molasses and sweet spices added, at least in my admittedly limited experience.)

[rebmommy.livejournal.com]

un-molded (or un-moulded) flan is the best - I do not like furry growths of minute fungal hyphae on my flan, or on any other foods, for that matter --

[ailbhe]

Black and white pudding are meat. And pudding is a *subset* of dessert as well as a synonym. Doughy bready bakedy fatty savoury things could definitely be pudding.