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There is a custom of eating foods fried or baked in oil
(preferably olive oil), as the original miracle of the Hanukkah
menorah involved the discovery of a small flask of pure olive oil used
by the Jewish High Priest, the Kohen Gadol. This small batch of olive
oil was only supposed to last one day, and instead it lasted eight.
Accordingly, potato pancakes, known as latkes in Yiddish, are
traditionally associated with Hanukkah, especially among Ashkenazi
families, as they are prepared by frying in oil. Similarly, many
Sephardic, Polish and Israeli families have the custom of eating all
kinds of jam-filled doughnuts (Yiddish: פאנטשקעס pontshkes), (bimuelos,
or sufganiyot) which are deep-fried in oil.
There is also a tradition of eating dairy products on Hannukah that is
recorded in rabbinic literature. This custom is seen as a
commemoration of the involvement of Judith and thus women in the
events of Hannukah.
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