Lights, latkes, doughnuts ...
the history of Chanukah fayre
As dusk falls tomorrow evening, we will kindle the first light of Chanukah, also known as the Festival of Lights. Chanukah means dedication in Hebrew and celebrates the miracle of the rededication of the 2nd Temple of Jerusalem in 164 BCE.
Chanukah also commemorates the Jewish battle against Antiochus IV, a Syrian-Greek monarch who was determined to impose Hellenism and their pagan Gods upon the Empire, making Judaism illegal and a punishment of torture and death to all those who refused to bow to idols. Sadly, we are still experiencing the struggle for Jewish survival after the events of October 7th, and this Chanukah will be dedicated to all those who remain in captivity, waiting to be brought home.
Judas Maccabeus, the son of a Jewish priest (kohen) was the leader of the group of rebels who led the Maccabean revolt against the Seleucid Empire, recaptured the Temple and purified the new altar with the last remaining drops of oil he found in a vial on the floor. Sufficient to keep the candelabra alight for no more than a day, by some miracle the oil lasted for eight days, giving the Maccabees enough time to source more oil and keep the everlasting light on the altar burning bright. “Command the Israelites to bring you clear oil of pressed olives for the light so that the lamps may be kept burning continually” Leviticus 24:2
Each year, Chanukah is celebrated for eight days by lighting the ‘menorah’ or ‘chanukiya’ (candelabra). Standing proud in the middle branch, the ‘shamash’ or ‘attendant’ has the duty to kindle each candle throughout the festival until all nine have burnt down, signifying the end of the festival. One of the most celebrated culinary holidays within the Jewish calendar, latkes and doughnuts are the traditional fayre, which in keeping with the theme of oil, are typically fried.
Latkes, from the Yiddish word for pancake, was the traditional Ashkenazi food of Chanukah. Predating the Maccabeans, culinary historians tribute the latke to originally being made of cheese and that dairy should be eaten on Chanukah too. This belief comes from the Book of Judith, a Jewish widow, who saved her fellow villagers from the Assyrian army, with her charm, beauty and salty fried cheese, which she fed to the army general with copious amounts of alcohol until satiated and intoxicated, saving herself and the village from their hands…
Once the humble potato arrived in Eastern Europe during the 19th century, it became the customary ingredient for the latke, as it was readily available and very affordable. Known in Hebrew as levivot, meaning fritters, they were traditionally made from grated potato, mixed with a little grated onion and salt, and bound together with egg and flour before being shaped into a potato cake and fried for a couple of minutes on each side in shallow oil or poultry fat, until crisp and golden. The success of the latke was to squeeze all the moisture out of the potato, before forming the pancake.
The modern latke is prepared using a variety of healthy root vegetables, including squash, courgettes, kale, cauliflower and beetroot, and growing in popularity with our quest for healthy eating. They are paired with fragrant spices and earthy herbs and bound together with a flour that is either reduced or free from gluten, such as spelt or buckwheat, and lightly fried in sunflower or rapeseed oil, or extra virgin olive oil for added flavour. Served with a dipping sauce, yoghurt dressing or labane, they are becoming a preferred alternative to the humble potato latke, that we longed for, each Chanukah.
I have a delicious recipe for spiced cauliflower latkes using spelt flour, which I came up with for my last book Freekeh, Wild Wheat & Ancient Grains, recipes for healthy eating. In the coming days, I will post a couple of recipes that will spice up the traditional Ashkenazi potato latke, as well as a Sephardic take on a vegetable ‘fritter’.
Doughnuts, sufganiot in Hebrew, are round pieces of fried dough, derived from the ancient Aramaic word sufganin that appeared in the scriptures. It signified a spongy dough, that was thought to have come from the ancient Greek word ‘sfog’ meaning sponge. A fried piece of yeasted dough with jam in the middle, fried in oil was the commemorative food of Chanukah for the Jewish diaspora of the 14th century. Fillings started off savoury, however during the 16th century when the price of sugar fell significantly, jam or jelly was inserted into the middle, and the sweet doughnut was borne. The first written recipe for a jelly doughnut in 1532 was discovered in a German cookbook called Kuchenmeisterei, (The Mastery of the Kitchen), one of the first cookbooks of Gutenberg’s famed printing press. The so-called ‘doughnut’ was made by stuffing jam between two round slices of bread which was then deep-fried in lard…
Although still full of calories, doughnut recipes have definitely come along way since the original unhealthy version and are certainly cooked in a lighter oils. Sufganiot are the most popular food of Chanukah in Israel and are sold in every bakery, supermarket, cafe and street corner in the weeks preceding the festival, as well as during and for some time after. Plump, fried rings of yeasted dough are filled to the brim with jam, cream, chocolate, caramel, sweet cheese to name but a few, and topped with brightly coloured icings decorated with chocolate chunks, caramel swirls, popping candy, nuts and sweets and doused in icing sugar.
Each mouthful of sweet dough eaten this Festival of Light will be tinged with a bitterness, as we remember all those who remain in darkness and unable to enjoy the foods of our heritage.
Happy Chanukah!