When Jews lived in the Roman ghetto, they weren’t allowed to buy large fish, so they made do with small ones like anchovies. Even generations later, cooks like Sara Pavoncello’s grandparents used them in dishes like this hearty winter soup.

Kubbeh, also known as kibbeh, is a style of dumpling that typically features ground meat wrapped in semolina, bulgur, or rice. It can be fried, or served in broth like it is in Pnina Shasha's Iraqi family.

For as long as Hilla Segev can remember, she’s eaten this fragrant Yemenite soup for Shabbat. It’s typically made with either chicken or beef, lots of vegetables, and a heady spice blend called hawaij.

When Sharon Fargo’s grandparents set out for Israel from Syria they brought lentils with them to sustain them for the journey. This simple family recipe for lentil soup comes together quickly and is brightened with fresh cilantro. 

In Shifra Klein’s family, borscht made with beets, flanken, tomato paste, and cabbage has sustained four generations across three continents. Today, the original recipe from Shifra’s grandmother Yehudis is kept in a safe.

Mitchell Davis’s mother, Sondra, always made the lightest matzo balls in their kitchen in Toronto. “She said she used the recipe on the box, but when we cooked together,” Mitchell says, it was clear that she didn’t.

The dishes on beloved Israeli food blogger Hagit Bilia’s table are always changing. But every Friday, there’s this chicken soup that’s studded with carrots and zucchini.

Harira is often vegetarian, but, in Arielle Nir Mamiye’s version, chicken thighs are seared and added to the soup, imparting a rich flavor. Topping it with fresh lemon and herbs brightens the entire bowl. 

In scholar Barbara Kirshenblatt-Gimblett’s home, her mother’s split pea soup represents the marrow of her family’s kitchen. “I think it’s because it’s an everyday food, not a festival food,” that it holds such a special meaning, Barbara says.

When Ayala Hodak hosts her friends for Yom Kippur break fast, she prepares a menu centered around this recipe: a meatball-laden soup made tangy with dried Persian limes. She serves it after breaking fast on challah, hard boiled eggs, and her family’s faloodeh.

Ever since Annabel Rabiyah was little, she’s helped her father prepare kubbeh, an Iraqi dumpling soup. There are several different variations of the soup, but this one features green beans as well as dried limes and lemon juice, which add a tang.

In Nina Dahan's family, there's no Shabbat without hamod, a lemony potato soup made with celery and garlic that’s served over rice. In her family, it's also served alongside bazela (peas cooked with allspice and onions).

This meatball soup sports an undercurrent of pomegranate and loads of fresh herbs. Persian-Israeli cookbook author Rottem Lieberson’s family serves it on Rosh Hashanah and Friday afternoons before Shabbat arrives. Its brightness is also welcome on cold winter evenings. 

Chef and baker Rinat Tzadok adapted her father’s slow-simmering recipe for chicken stew to her quicker-paced life. Her recipe is ready in 45 minutes, but still captures the flavor of her dad’s version.

This deeply savory tomato-cucumber soup is spiked with curry powder and topped with coconut milk. Chopsticks Meets Fork writer Jamie Wei serves it for Rosh Hashanah, but it’s also excellent for a summer dinner.

This four ingredient soup made with yogurt, sour cream, a touch of flour, and lemon juice comes together in just 20 minutes. Serve it warm alongside kubaneh (Yemeni bread) or challah.

This recipe for schav, a cold, sour, and refreshing soup comes from chef Peter Hoffman’s father Jules, who used to make it with wild sorrel growing outside of their home in the Berkshires. On hot days, he would drink it straight from the fridge. 

A chilled Russian summer soup, okroshka is tangy and refreshing. Sasha Shor’s version is made with kefir, pickle brine, and crunchy vegetables. Enjoy it like her grandfather did — with a slice of black bread rubbed with raw garlic and a shot of vodka.

This simple fava bean recipe from New York Shuk co-founder Ron Arazi’s family was always part of his grandparents’ Sukkot table along with salads and freshly made pita. The soup really comes alive with a dollop of harissa added just before serving.  

In this Syrian Passover recipe, the more common bulgur or semolina wrapping for kibbeh (sometimes called kubbeh) is replaced with one made from rice. If you don't eat kitniyot on Passover, save this recipe for another festive dinner.

This soup is even better the next day. Clear chicken broth is finished with pieces of white meat, large knobs of carrots and parsnips, and fresh parsley and dill. It’s “unequivocally” my favorite food, says cookbook author Julia Turshen.

Each fall, Samantha's family members hopped from sukkah to sukkah for meals of brisket with prunes and dried apricots, stuffed cabbage, and warm bowls of soup. It was often her Bubby’s split pea soup with flanken, a cut of beef short ribs that’s common in Ashkenazi cooking.

The recipe for chef Lizzy Cooper’s Creole gumbo was passed down from her great-great-grandmother, Mathilda Landry Frilot. Mathilda lived in a community of Free People of Color in Louisiana, established in 1860 before the Civil War. The dish features a deep, dark roux as its base, with tender beef, salami, and white rice.

Angela Josephsberg-Achsen’s kreplach are so popular in her family that she has to hide them when her grandchildren come over for the holidays, so they aren’t devoured before the meal.

When chef and restaurant owner Ori Menashe was sick, his grandmother Rachel would prepare a pot of peshalo, a little-known soup with fresh cut noodles, cabbage, chickpeas, and a broth tinged with turmeric. It’s his family's version of a “cure-all” soup.

Hailing from the Nash Didan Jewish community near the borders of Iran, Iraq, Turkey, and Azerbaijan, these meatballs are made with a mix of ground beef, pork, and basmati rice. In Danielle Colen’s family, chefte can even be enjoyed cold the next morning, sliced into rounds.  

Pastry chef Caroline Schiff learned to make this tangy-sweet chilled fruit soup from stories about her great-grandmother Ann. While Ann never made the soup the same way twice, it always involved stone fruit.

“I always found it as comfort food for the soul,” teaching artist and educator Je’Jae Cleo Daniels says of this flavorful soup from Yemen. It’s served on Shabbat and as a cure-all in their family. 

Each fall, Samantha's family members hopped from sukkah to sukkah for meals of brisket with prunes and dried apricots, stuffed cabbage, and warm bowls of soup. It was often her Bubby’s split pea soup with flanken, a cut of beef short ribs that’s common in Ashkenazi cooking.

Flavored with cumin, epazote and pasilla chiles, this recipe from Ilan Stavans yields a warm, tomato-y broth made hefty with shredded chicken and black beans.

At the Ghalchi’s home on Long Island, tangy ash-e anar reigns supreme. Made with voluminous amounts of finely chopped herbs, thickened with rice and studded with meatballs and chunks of beet, it’s deeply comforting and a wintertime staple. 

This matzo ball soup brings together both sides of Dana Harary's family. The spicing comes from her father's Yemenite heritage, while the matzo balls are her Ashkenazi great-grandmother's recipe.

Smoky, deeply savory, and warming, this hearty soup that's reminiscent of Russian solyanka and Polish bigos, comes from cookbook author June Hersh’s grandmother, Rose Feiss.