Published March 23, 2011
Associated Press
NEW YORK – From the White House to the Schein house, Passover is good to the last drop thanks to the Maxwell House Haggadah, lovingly passed down through generations, red wine splotches and gravy smears marking nearly 80 years of service at American Seder tables.
Photo: This Tuesday, March 15, 2011 photo shows a 1936 Maxwell House Haggadah alongside a Seder plate in New York. The coffee maker’s version of the Seder guide has been offered free at supermarkets with a Maxwell House purchase since the early 1930s. A major overhaul will be out this year in time for the holiday’s start April 19. (AP Photo/Stace Maude)
The coffee company’s version of the text used at the holiday meal has been offered free at supermarkets with a Maxwell House purchase since the early 1930s. Now, more than 50 million copies are in print.
They even turned up when President Obama hosted his first Seder in the family dining room of the White House two years ago.
The company is issuing a new edition this year in time for the April 19 start of Passover.
“I feel like I’m passing on a piece of my childhood. They’re familiar and comfortable,” said Lisa Zwick, 44, of Laguna Hills, Calif. Her family, starting with her parents, has used the Maxwell House books for 37 years to tell the story of the Jews’ exodus from Egypt.
For that, Maxwell House owes a debt to Joseph Jacobs Advertising and the Orthodox rabbi it hired back in 1923. The rabbi confirmed that the coffee bean is not a legume
