Jewish Foods from Hanukkah House

It's time to eat!  Hanukkah begins tonight.

I will say up front that my blog post name may be a little misleading.  Although these recipes were displayed in Hanukkah House, a Hanukkah museum in Binghamton, New York in December of 2017, they aren't really Hanukkah specific recipes.  But, why not mix and match?

Since the miracle of our Festival of Lights occurred with oil, it is traditional to eat a lot of fried foods.

Some of these, like the Mexican Chilaquiles, are more a Passover food (a Jewish holiday which takes place around Easter time), but would be quite suitable because they are fried.

Jews live all over the world, and our cuisine reflects that.

Here are foods from:

Mexico: fried matzo and eggs.

India Aloo Makalla are a type of fried potatoes, enjoyed by the Bene Israel Jews of Mumbai.

Argentina.  It may surprise you to know that the Jewish population of Argentina is the fifth largest in the world.

I wrote an entire post on egg creams, a traditional New York City refreshment back in 2017.  I don't consider them a Hanukkah food, but why not?  We can even get the traditional U-Bet chocolate syrup where I live in the Southern Tier of upstate New York.

Although this says borscht originated in the Ukraine, it is fondly remembered from my childhood during Passover.  In a kosher household, however, a meat based borscht would never have been served with sour cream. I remember most borschts served by my mother as being meat free, and served with potatoes.

How about this one?

This one isn't a true Hanukkah dish but I love it.  Because my spouse doesn't like the combination of meat and fruit (a combination I usually love), we don't put dried prunes in our version.  I was suprised to find its origin was in France.

Last but not least - Arkansas, by way of Germany.

The entire selection.

I chose this memory of Hanukkah House because this year's display is on the owner of the mansion the museum is located in, rather than the holiday itself.

Hungry yet?