Since the Torah prohibits chametz, the fixtures that have lined your pantry the last few months are all banished. Don't worry, your kids won't notice when you secretly replace those cookies and pretzels with macaroons and egg kichels.
Ashkenazim also don't eat kitniyot-rice, corn, or any type of legume. Sephardim, on the other hand, do not maintain this stringency.
Twenty years ago many popular food items weren't kosher for Passover. Today, nearly every product or a close substitute has the proper certification. Cookies and cakes are made out of matzah meal or potato starch. Passover candies have graduated from the limited scope of the fundraiser and now come in all shapes or sizes. There are even bakeries that sell fresh, kosher for Passover items.
Foods that have kosher supervision year-round still need special certification for Passover. Canned foods, candies, shortenings, coffees and teas, jams and jellies, mixes, tuna fish, vegetable oils and shortenings, wines and liqueurs, milk, orange juice, and other beverages are just some of the foods that must be certified.
Raw meat, chicken, and fish don't need special Passover certification; neither do fruits or vegetables.
And for those whose favorite food simply can't be made kosher for Passover, we offer these words of comfort:
