Latke

The Latke has been an iconic Hanukkah food for generations, as it was fried in honor of the "miracle of oil" story told around the festival. The first documented connection between Hanukkah and pancakes was made by a rabbi in Italy named Rabbi Kalonymus ben Kalonymus. According to the Encyclopedia of Jewish Foods by Gil Marks, the Rabbi “included pancakes in a list of dishes to serve at an idealized Purim feast ... After the Spanish expelled the Jews from Sicily in 1492, the exiles introduced their ricotta cheese pancakes, which were called cassola in Rome, to the Jews of northern Italy. Consequently, cheese pancakes, because they combined the two traditional types of foods–fried and dairy–became a natural Hanukkah dish.”

Latkes being fried in oil.

In the middle ages, dairy was an important part of Hanukkah based on the Book of Judith which followed a Jewish heroine named Yehudit (Judith). In the story, the heroine served the army’s general so much wine and cheese that he eventually passed out. Once he was passed out, Yehudit beheaded the general with his own sword, which then inspired the Israelite army to attack. These cheese pancakes were perfect for Hanukkah as it mixed these two important ingredients, but a problem arose in Eastern Europe as schmaltz, which is a meat based fat for frying, was easiest to come by. Kosher law prohibits mixing meat with milk, so cheese pancakes evolved into being made with root vegetables like turnips or with buckwheat flour changing these cheese pancakes cheese to the meat and root vegetable based latkes we know today. The term “latke” is Yiddish for pancake, and is believed to originate from the East Slavic word for “small fried pancake.”

As pancakes became a staple food during Hanukkah, potatoes were spreading throughout Europe after being brought over from South America. Though people were initially wary of new crops (such as potatoes, pumpkins and tomatoes), their nutrition, long shelf life and hardiness in poor soil caused them to gradually go from unheard of to being staple foods all across Europe. A factor that put potatoes in the spotlight came with crop failures in Ukraine and Poland during 1839 and 1840, where, to prevent starvation, people planted large numbers of potatoes. Subsequently, they became such a cornerstone of the local diet that they were cheaper than flour at the time, and so potato latkes became most common.

Latkes with sour cream.

When latkes came to America ferried along the waves of Eastern European immigrants in the early 20th century, the cooking oil of choice became vegetable oil. To this day, many people are still trying new ways of cooking latkes, with other fried and shredded ingredients like zucchinis, spinach and beets.

Page updated

Report abuse