Every Yom Kippur the newspapers fill up with useful guides to surviving the fast: Drink plenty of water the day before, consume a lot of carbohydrates and proteins at the pre-fast meal, avoid fried, spicy or very salty food, prepare your body for withdrawal from coffee, watch out for pulses and gas-producing foods, don't strain your digestive system with too large and heavy a pre-fast meal, and end it with fruit instead of a sweet and thirst-producing dessert.

There is also a wealth of advice for ending the fast and lists of what to do and what not to do. It is a good idea to start with a sweet drink (the lazy will make do with tea, those who are more industrious might prepare pepitada or soubia - a drink from melon seeds that have been saved up especially during the summer, the recipe for which was published here a year ago. This year perhaps we will try the "middle path": pink pomegranate lemonade, which can be accompanied by a small piece of bread (at Grandma Louise's house, there was flat bread with sesame, soaked in oil, served with a dish of coarse salt). Don't eat too much or too fast (but how can this be avoided when the table is groaning under the weight of all the baked goods and sweets we have been anticipating for an entire year?). Do eat slowly. Chew well, don't drink too much and too fast. Wait an hour before you eat a proper meal and even then a relatively light repast is best.

The common denominator of the foods usually consumed during the break-the-fast meal is that they can be prepared in advance, and their flavor even improves with the waiting. Chicken soup, therefore, is preferred in all the communities, for both the pre-fast and post-fast meals. Also in this category is the Mizrahi (that is, originating in the Muslim countries) semolina cake that is made with almonds or walnuts, which is popular in one variation or another in a number of communities for breaking the fast. Make tishpishti, basbousa or samali. In any case you will get a rich, sweet cake, dripping with the syrup that is poured over it while it is still hot, the ultimate comfort after 24 hours without food.

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Pink pomegranate lemonade

A light, sweet and festive drink; fun for after the fast.

the juice of 1 large, red pomegranate (pressed in a good citrus juicer)

1/3 cup fresh lemon juice

1/3 cup sugar

4 cups water

ice cubes

Mix all the ingredients in a jug, until the sugar melts. Taste and add sugar, lemon juice or water as needed.

Samali

The cake that was popular among Greek Jews is airier and lighter than the other semolina cakes, in part because of the whipped eggs and the self-rising flour. Use a 22 x 30 centimeter baking pan.

4 eggs

3/4 cup sugar

100 grams melted butter

3/4 cup fine semolina

3/4 cup self-rising flour

1 cup (about 180 grams) ground unroasted almonds, plus blanched almonds for decoration

Optional: 1/4 cup unroasted pistachios, chopped

For the syrup:

1 1/4 cups sugar

1 1/4 cups water

3 tablespoons honey

2 tablespoons lemon juice

Optional: the seeds of 5 cardamom pods, a cinnamon stick or 1 teaspoon real vanilla essence

Whip the eggs in a bowl with the sugar until you get a very pale and fluffy mixture (at least 5 minutes of whipping). Add the melted butter, the semolina, the flour and the ground almonds; fold gently into a uniform mixture.

Transfer the mixture into a greased and floured baking pan (if using pistachios, pour half of the mixture into the pan, scatter the pistachios uniformly and pour the rest of the mixture on top of them).

Bake at 180 degrees Celsius until a toothpick stuck in the center of the cake comes out dry (about 25 minutes).

During the baking, prepare the syrup: Heat all the ingredients in a saucepan until the sugar melts. The moment the cake is ready, take it out of the oven and cut into squares or diamond shapes. While both the cake and the syrup are hot, pour the syrup over the cake. Decorate each piece with a blanched almond.

Keep covered with cling-wrap, outside the refrigerator, for up to 48 hours.