An interesting side to ’jewish inventions’ is how frequently foods that jews – usually Ashkenazi jews – have claimed as their own are in fact things that jews have filched from other peoples (usually Europeans).
One such example of this famous matzah balls and matzah ball soup which - despite being rather famous in modern culture (and ubiquitous in modern jewish culture) – in fact only dates from the mid-nineteenth century with the first known mention by an English jewish cookbook in 1846 (1) suggesting that they were likely being eaten for a few decades prior to this (say circa 1800).
Samantha Sokol agrees with this broad dating and locates the origin of the matzah ball and matzah ball soup in Germany and Austria:
‘The documentary attributes the creation of matzah balls to the large scale production of matzah meal during the industrial revolution in the 19th century. Indeed, before the mass production of matzah balls, Jews would purchase matzah from a local bakery, and then cook matzah balls with the leftover crumbs.
These original matzah balls were called “kneydlekh” (also spelled knoedel or knaidel), and mostly the Germans, Austrians, and Alsatians used them in soup. Once Jews moved to Poland, they referred to them as knoedela.’ (2)
This is despite desperate speculations by jews like Yona Levi to the effect that matzah balls are ‘ancient’, ‘biblical’ and that matzah balls (and thus matzoh ball soup) must be a jewish creation, but yet he offers no evidence whatsoever that this is the case. (3)
The truth is hinted at by Sokol when she locates the origin of the matzah ball (and matzah ball soup) in Germany and Austria, because the origin of the Yiddish term ‘Kneydlekh’ (the original name for matzah balls/matzah ball soup) is the German term ‘Knödel’ (or ‘Knoedel’) which is a German dumpling dish.
Indeed, the matzah ball is simply knödel and the first recipe of for such that reads like a matzah ball (and matzoh ball soup for that matter) occurs in a German cookbook written in South Tyrol in the 1400s as ‘Fastenknödel’ (‘Lenten Dumplings’). (4)
Further it is worth pointing out that the matzah ball may well have a much older European pre-history and pedigree; since one of the staple foods of the ancient Greeks was ‘Maza’ which is a dumpling made from barley and was eaten in a broth and which - as one recent writer on ancient Greek cookery points out - bears more than a passing resemblance to matzah ball soup:
‘Maza begins as álphita: barley flour that has been toasted over a fire, giving it a dark brown color and a nutty aroma and flavor. This rich flour is mixed into a dough with hot water and a little bit of oil (and perhaps salt). No baking is required, as the flour has already been cooked. The maza is then shaped into balls or pancakes. Sometimes small maza dumplings were added to broth to create an ancient matzoh ball soup.
Maza is believed to date back to well before the emergence of a recognizable Greek civilization, and is referenced by very early Greek authors such as Archilochus above, who lived in the 600s BCE.’ (5)
Thus, we can see that matzah balls – as well as matzah ball soup – were almost certainly adopted from the Germans by the Ashkenazim, but also that long before the Germans created knödel in the Middle Ages; the ancient Greeks were eating something very similar to matzah balls and matzah ball soup.
Therefore, we can see that matzah balls and matzah ball soups are not ‘jewish inventions’ either but rather dishes filched without attribution from European cuisine!
References
(1) Anon., 1846, ‘The Jewish Manual: Practical Information in Jewish and Modern Cookery’, 1st Edition, T & W Boone: London, pp. 9-10
(2) https://jewishstudiescolumbia.com/myny/food/matzah-ball-soup-history-and-spelling-tests/
(3) https://aish.com/where-does-matzah-ball-soup-come-from/
(4) https://www.plunhof.it/en/info/plunhofs-news/112-knoedel.html
(5) https://passtheflamingo.com/2017/05/24/ancient-recipe-maza-ancient-greek-ca-2nd-millennium-bce/