Will you spend the last few hours of Yom Kippur imagining that first sip of hot tea and slice of challah schmeared with butter? Or will you be hoovering up another new year staple — honey cake?

Babka is a South African favourite for fast breaking

All very Ashkenazi but favourite break-fast foods vary widely from country to country. From scanning popular Facebook food group, Friday Night, which has a wealth of South African and Australian members, it seems many of our South African cousins invariably go for bulkas (a cinnamon bun-style bake) and babkas when the fast goes out. Some mention brown cows — the coca cola and milk mix that I’m not sure I can even bring myself to try but popular with some. I first heard of it when researching different fast-breaking traditions for this article. 

French Tunisian Fabienne Viner-Luzzato’s tradition were simple, parev biscuits called boulou. Perfect with a cup of tea. She has adapted her recipe to include dried fruits and nuts.  

Israeli expat, Shiri Kraus, whose family were originally from Bulgaria have some interesting traditions. “Bulgarian Jews are famously non-religious — we joke that there are Orthodox, Reform, Secular and then Bulgarian Jews, with their own level of religion” she laughs.

“My grandma was from a religious family and the only one of our family who fasted” she says, explaining that they would still all join in her break-fast meal, which started with a spoonful of quince jam in a glass of ice-cold water. “We’d then have a slice of bread smeared in margarine or butter to help your tummy adjust to eating again.”

Quince jam is a Bulgarian treat

She says that they also ate a plain crusty white bread with oil — “plain oil, we couldn’t afford olive oil, so we used vegetable oil for everything. The oil, she says “is so the new year would run smoothly, like on oil. And we’d sometimes put a Bulgarian spice on it called chubritza, which is similar to za’atar.”

Kraus says they’d then go on to chicken soup, with a “hearty squeeze of lemon as that was also light on the stomach”.

If you’re looking for the easiest ever break-fast meal then look to Amir Batito’s Moroccan family’s tradition. Their simple trick to minimise the work needed to get a meal on their break-fast table in no time at all was to cook more the night before. “We’d make enough so that we had enough leftovers for the next night.”

Matbucha is a must for Moroccan meals Photo: Inbal Bar-Oz

When Yom Kippur went out, all they had to do was warm up the leftovers while they snacked on sweet treats like Moroccan rifaat biscuits which, Amir explains, are a simple shortbread-style cookie made with oil. “We also ate sponge cakes like marble cake or orange cake and drank mint tea with lots of sugar.”

Their main meal would include rice and potatoes, chicken, vegetables and salads with challah and (spicy pepper and tomato dip) matbucha. “And then we’d go back to the cake and cookies” he laughs.

Find nutrititionist-approved tips on how to start and finish your fast here.