 Along with family favorites, and varying to some extent according to ethnic background, traditional dishes are served, such as challah bread, chicken soup, salads, chicken or meat dishes, and cakes or fruits for dessert.Shabbat lunch is also an important social meal.Since antiquity, Jewish communities all over the world devised meat casseroles that begin cooking before the lighting of candles that marks the commencement of the Sabbath on Friday night, so as to comply with the religious regulations for observing the Sabbath.