Why do Ashkenazic Jews and Sephardic Jews have different rules for Passover?
During Passover, we refrain from eating bread, noodles, cereals and other grain-based foods. If wheat, barley, rye, oats or spelt grains (and their derivatives) are mixed with agents that cause them to ferment and rise, they are prohibited for consumption on this holiday. However, Jewish communities were influenced by local lifestyle, dress and cuisine, so different customs developed in regions of the world that were poles apart. Foods that were inexpensive and readily available became an ordinary part of the Jewish diet, borrowed from the areas in which they lived, and adapted to the laws of kashrut. One of the most striking differences on Passover is that Ashkenazic Jews do not eat kitniyot (such as beans, corn, or rice) whereas Sephardic Jews from Spain, Portugal, the Mediterranean, Turkey and the Arab countries include those foods in their diet. According to custom, Ashkenazim, who descended from areas along the Rhine River in northern France and western Germany, as well as Eastern
