regarding permissible foods on Pesach (Passover)?
Both agree that Chometz products are forbidden. Ashkenazi authorities additionally forbade kitniyos, a class of foods in some ways similar to chometz, but not classified as “chometz.” Kitniyos refers to grains and grain like products such as rice, millet, beans, lentils, and others. Even though these items cannot become chometz, Ashkenazim do not eat them because they are easily confused with grains that can be become chometz and may even be mixed together with them. Sephardic Jews (Jews from primarily the Middle East and Northern Africa) generally do not refrain from eating kitniyos. Possession of kitniyos is permitted according to all customs. The custom of avoiding kitnyos is mentioned for the first time in France and Provence in the beginning of the thirteenth century by R. Asher of Lunel; R. Samuel of Falaise, and R. Peretz of Corbeil – from there it spread to various countries and the list of prohibited foods continued to expand. Nevertheless, the reason for the custom was unknow
