Among Jews, as in other groups, the name Koch ("cook") was linked to the occupation. Because of the diet laws a cook was one of the few manual trades not forbidden to Jews. They usually worked as cooks in the eating houses or hostelries which existed in the Judengasse from the earliest days. The occupation of cook was handed down for generations by many families in the Judengasse, and they took it as their family name. This was the case for the Seligmann Koch family, who lived in the Horn at the beginning of the 17th century.