Once Forbidden Foods Will Appear For First Time At Some Tables For Passover Seder

NEW YORK (CBSNewYork) -- The eight day Jewish holiday of Passover begins Friday at sundown, and this will be the first year once "forbidden foods" have been deemed kosher.

The holiday commemorates the Israelites' escape from Egyptian slavery more than 3,000 years ago.

During the first two nights, families gather for a Passover Seder, the ritual meal which features six symbolic foods, including matzo. Matzo is a cracker-like unleavened bread that symbolizes the exodus from Egypt, when there wasn't enough time to let the bread rise.

Conservative rabbis overturned a centuries-old ban on kitniyot -- rice, corn and other legumes -- last year due to changing tastes and the changing make up of the diaspora.

Widening definitions of what's considered kosher for Passover has some Jews of Eastern European descent serving rice, beans and corn at the Seder for the first time, WCBS 880's Marla Diamond reported. Jews of Middle Eastern descent have always eaten rice on Passover.

At The Kosher Marketplace on the Upper West Side, owner Jack Kauffman is carrying some once forbidden items.

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"We're selling certain types of hummus, we're selling some gluten-free pretzels, some types of popcorn," he told Diamond.

The change in part makes it easier on those who don't eat gluten or meat, but shopper Louie Herring says he'll stick to the basics.

"It's a matter of walking in the footsteps of the forefathers, it gives you a sense of belonging and this is what tradition is all about," Herring said.

Andrews Ackerman of the Upper West Side wasn't aware of the change, but said he'll stick to matzo.

"I've been at tables with cousins of mine that are Yemeni and they've had kitniyot on the table, and we just don't eat from the bowls," he said. "It's just something people aren't used to."