SC - potatoes
Lilinah biti-Anat
lilinah at grin.net
Thu Dec 16 00:03:00 PST 1999
>Greetings,
>I have been told by several different people that potatoes are not period,
>but if latkes are period, how can potatoes not be? The Jews have been eating
>them for centuries and they (the Jews) were in all countries. I would really
>like some clarification. Thanks!
>Chante
I know we shared latke techniques on this list, but i don't remember
anyone claiming potato latkes were "period"...
Potatoes were only discovered by Europeans in the early 1500's, and
they were not well accepted in Europe at first. So the Jews can only
have been eating potatoes since some time in the 1500's at the
earliest, but such an early date is highly unlikely.
And it isn't all Jews in all countries who eat latkes. The Jews who
eat latkes are the Ashkenizim from Eastern Europe and Russia. Latkes
are not a great tradition among the Shephardim or the Mizrachim - the
former being those who fled Spain after 1492 and its concomitant
Inquisition - the latter being those who have always lived in the
Near East. They have their own special Chanukah foods - remember the
bunuelo thread? That's Sephardic Chanukah food
I suspect that potato latkes do not have the most ancient of
pedigrees. Much as i love them, they strike me as dressed up peasant
food, a way to make the ordinary seem special.
Anyone know when potatoes reached Eastern Europe/Russia? I believe
this was discussed previously, but all past messages from this list
were lost in the great internal drive crash of October 1999.
Anahita al-shazhiya
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