Hanukkah oil & wine: Remembering Judith

Hanukkah, the festival celebrating Jewish religious freedom, starts on the 25th day of the Jewish month of Kislev and is celebrated for eight days and nights. This year, Hanukkah begins at sundown on December 1st.
Hanukkah embraces many traditions and one of them centers on foods that are eaten during the celebration. Foods cooked in oil and dairy products, especially cheese, are served most often.
The foods cooked in oil are in remembrance of the miracle of the oil that burned for eight days during the purification of the Temple in Jerusalem.
Latkes and sufganiyot (a jelly doughnut cooked in oil, pictured above) are the most popular of the Hanukkah foods. Latkes are often served interchangeably with potato pancakes, but they can also be made from ingredients such as corn, zucchini, and cheese. These may be accompanied by applesauce or sour cream.
Some say eating the foods cooked in oil has something in common with reading the Torah. Oil can illuminate a room and reading the Torah illuminates God’s words to us.
The eating of dairy products is done in honor of the memory of Judith who saved the city of Bethulia by feeding the attacking Syrian general Holofernes wine and cheese until he fell into a drunken stupor. Then Judith took the general’s sword and killed him. When the Syrians discovered his body, they fled.
Foodnetwork.com has many Hanukkah recipes available to try.