Conference taveng::bagels

    I was wondering about that myself since we have 9 month old twins.
    
    Since we make a lot of our own baby food anyway, fruit and vegetables
    weren't much of a problem.  It's pretty easy to avoid legumes.  Our
    kids are old enough to eat soft table foods, and they loved fried
    matzo, Passover "rolls", and gefilte fish.  (Even my wife doesn't like
    gefilte fish.) 
                                                              
    What we had a lot of trouble avoiding was cereal, since this is
    the main source of carbohydrates in their diet.  They don't have
    teeth yet, and plain matzo got stuck in the roof of their mouths.
    I tried to soak some in milk, but that was unsatisfactory.  The
    rolls and fried matzo contained more egg than we like to give them.
                          
    I guess we'll have to wait till next year for them to be fully
    observant of Passover.

    Well, there is Passover hot cereal, which comes out rather like
    cream of wheat; I had some for breakfast this morning.  It doesn't
    taste nearly as much like wet matzoh as you would think.  It would
    probably be fine for kids, unless they are allergic to wheat or
    something (well, my husband won't eat the cereal, but *I* like it).
    
    I also wish every year that someone would decide to make matzohs
    out of other grains besides wheat (at least you can get Pesachdic
    whole-wheat ones now).  I'm not allergic to wheat (though I am to
    a lot of other things, like potatoes), but I don't like it a whole
    lot unless it is whole-wheat, and the rest of the year we eat a
    lot of rice and oats.  It ought to be possible to make oatmeal matzohs
    and rice ones, if anyone besides me would buy them.

    	Since you mentioned fried matzos, does anyone have a good recipe
    for it. I would like an exact recipe rather than the one I use which
    is:
    Beat two eggs in a bowl with some milk and salt. Soak some broken
    matzos for a while. Pour into a frying pan and heat until the liquid
    is not runny.

    There are a number of ways to make matzoh brie. My mother used to
    make it by first breaking up the matzohs, and then soaking them
    in warm water. When they were soft, she would pour off all the water
    and queeze them to get out all the excess water. Then she would
    fry  them with eggs in the traditional way. This made for a soft,
    somewhat soggy mix of matzoh and scrambled eggs. It did taste very
    good, however.
    
    My wife and I prefer to make it taste less soggy and more eggy. We use
    the following recipe. First, saute some onions in a frying pan. We
    really like onion, so we use lots. While you are sauteing the onion,
    soak broken up pieces of matzoh in an egg batter. As a rule, use one
    more egg than the number of matzohs you have. You can adjust the number
    of eggs based on your tastes. So, for instance, if you have 4 matzohs,
    beat five eggs in a bowl. Add a little milk to the egg mix if you like.
    This will make the eggs a little fluffier. Break the matzohs into small
    pieces, and let soak in the eggs until soft. You will need to stir the
    batter over the matzohs every minute or two. When soft, fry the matzoh
    and egg in the frying pan with the Sauteed onions, stiring just as if
    you were making scrambled eggs. 
    
    This is one of my favorite breakfast foods, both during Pesach and
    the rest of the year.

    Jack

    
    Back to the original question.
                     
    I don't believe that there is a restriction on babies for eating
    strictly KP.  I will ask my rabbi for the details and mail them
    to you, but I think you keep the food by a neighbor and own a hometz
    spoon to feed with.  The problem I don't think is so much in that
    they must eat for pesach, in as much as that you are not allowed
    to own the chametz.
    
    Bruce Cohen
    
    (will further research)
    BC
    

    I'm almost certain I've seen KP baby food at the local butcheries.
    

    Yesterday, while shopping at the Butcherie in Worcester, I saw Gerber
    baby food with a Hebrew label on one side and an English label on
    the other. On closer examination, it was vegetables and meat, and
    had an OU stamp on the label. It was made in Canada. It was not
    Pesadich, however. In any event, there is some hope for those who
    would like to buy kosher baby food.
    
    Jack

    I know that this note is quite old, but just in case someone needs the
    information:
    a) There does exist (highly priced) Matza baby cereal. The same
    company also makes regular cereal, and our little one had no problem
    with it. Note: Some doctors recommend against giving "heavy" stuff to
    small babies.
    b) Most of American Jews take after the Ashkenazi customs of not eating
    Kitniyot (Rice, etc) on Passover, and as such you don't find Kitniyot
    products certified for Passover. You might try asking around the local
    Sephardic community (if such exists) for stuff which is certified - and
    feed it your baby. Another possibility is getting from Israel some KP
    baby food made out of Kitniyot.
    c) If you are REALLY up to it, buy rice ahead of time, clean it and
    make cereal.
    
    Hope this helps somebody.