A Plague on Both Your Houses! An Untasty Tradition

Plagues come in different shapes, colors, and sizes. 

Modern medicine has all but eradicated many of history’s most notorious medical plagues, such as the Black Death and smallpox. Coronavirus, which claimed somewhere between 5 and 17 million lives, gave us a bitter taste of the chaos that a plague can inflict — even in this modern era.

The Ten Plagues, inflicted on the Egyptians during Biblical times, surely rank high on the list of the world’s most infamous plagues. So when it comes to the plagues at the Pesach Seder, we can only begin to imagine the mayhem that was unfolding 3335 years ago!

Of course, a major theme of the Pesach Seder is remembering — and even reenacting — the Exodus story, retelling the events to our children and linking them to the origins of our tradition. Thus the emergence of playful Seder practices, such as throwing ping pong balls (for the plague of hail), releasing plastic frogs, and conjuring water into blood, via the alchemy of jello powder in a cup. 

In recent years, the Biblical Museum of Natural History has included a most unwelcome addition: jars of genuine Kosher locusts. If ever there was a more unpalatable supplement to the evening, this is it. Given a choice between chomping on pure horseradish root or eating an overgrown insect with wings, I’ll forgo the high-protein option and take the former, thank you. 

In more than one Seder in the course of more than one pregnancy, my son consumed locusts as part of the proceedings, much to the chagrin of his pregnant wife. Of all my failings as a father, raising someone with a penchant for munching on locusts has to be in the Top Ten. 

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This Pesach, we had an honored guest from the United States, my sister-in-law Liz, who was keeping a second Seder. We found another woman who was also in need of a Seder, and my son hosted them both. The woman, Chantal — who was born in Morocco, and has lived in the U.S. most of her life — was relieved to have some company, and not go through the hours-long ritual on her own.  

AI image of the ladies at their second Seder.

We weren’t sure how to break the news to her that genuine locusts would be visiting our table that night. When we finally mentioned it, we did not get the reception we anticipated.

Chantal’s eyes lit up. 

“We used to eat those in Morocco!”, she exclaimed. 

We were shocked. 

“We made a dish called mahena, using locusts. And my brothers liked them in their eggs.” Her excitement gave us all a good laugh. 

There’s a famous line from Romeo and Juliet: “A plague on both your houses”.

In this case, locusts are the plague, and now I can tell you of two houses that actually welcome them to the table!