<p>Bacon and cheese. Its a shonda.</p>
<p>Onward: Chanukah starts Friday night and he was “coincidently” discussing potato pancakes? for Christmas? oh, that makes so much more sense now…lol</p>
<p>I must have misunderstood…?</p>
<p>Never knew that potato pancakes were a Christmas dish, but then again, I am not familiar with Norweigian Christmas…</p>
<p>Chinese food and a movie on Christmas eve.</p>
<p>ditto Slithey Tove…</p>
<p>christmas eve, christmas day (for the movies that is) maybe both. As to the bacon, cheese and latke, lets add egg and we can make it a McLatke and sell it at McDonalds. Just in time for the holidays…</p>
<p>One time my firm had a retreat at a great resort in Colorado. Every day in the breakfast buffet they’d have delicious latkes and the most heavenly thick bacon…it was a wonderful combination but the unliklihood of the combination was not lost on my Presbyterian self.</p>
<p>The Norwegians call them lefses. And they are popular at Christmastime.</p>
<p>Double bad Jews here; the past few years my daughter has made shrimp and grits for Christmas Eve which we have decided to do every year. After dinner my kids head to the local Bagel Bash or Matzah Ball while mom and dad watch some marathon on tv; usually a Law & Order. Christmas Day is Chinese and a movie where the entire theater is filled with fellow Jews!!</p>
<p>While we do eat pork products, I would never serve it to others when I host a dinner at home or a party other than my parents, which is where I got the bad habit of eating pork from!! My husband never had pork in the house, but he and his siblings would eat it out. The funny thing is, my FIL now eats pepperoni pizza and we don’t know if he has decided it is ok to eat pork in his 90’s or he has no idea that pepperoni is pork, which is what I think. We are all afraid to ask him, so we let him enjoy his pizza!!</p>
<p>When my family came to the United States in the 1870s they ate pork as soon as they hit New York. HOWEVER I would never serve pork products to Jews or Moslems unless I knew that they ate pork and would never (unless specifically asked) bring pork to someone’s home. The Producer (segment) of the Today Show is an absolute moron. And we have always had a party on Christmas Eve for all our friends (my husband was raised Episcopalian but is now…for all intents Jewish) who are Jewish. The world is all dressed up and they have nowhere to go. </p>
<p>…as for shrimp…well, that another story.:)</p>
<p>If you like latkes and bacon, you definitely have to try making matzo balls with bacon fat. I used to do this all the time for a quick dinner meal</p>
<p>So a rabbi in Vtebsk was SO CURIOUS about how pig tasted that he went alone to a cafe in the next town to order roast pig. Just as it was about to arrive, in walks the entire Board of Directors from his own synagogue! </p>
<p>On a huge plate, the waiter put an entire whole cooked pig in front of the rabbi. Thinking fast, he said to his Board, “These crazy Gentiles. Look at all the trouble they took, just to serve me a simple apple!”</p>
<p>It’s even harder for Hindu vegetatians (not all are). I would have disqualiified the cooking show competition chef for making his “vegetarian” dish with- eggs! I do not understand prohibiting certain meats and allowing others that are equally unhealthy in today’s world. “Tradition” needs to be analyzed and not just followed because it meant something in centuries ago life. BTW- lefse are not equivalent to pancakes, they are a specific type- may as well consider crepes the same.</p>
<p>Why not? It’s fusion food.</p>
<p>It’s even harder for Hindu vegetarians (not all are). I would have disqualiified the cooking show competition chef for making his “vegetarian” dish with- eggs! I do not understand prohibiting certain meats and allowing others that are equally unhealthy in today’s world. “Tradition” needs to be analyzed and not just followed because it meant something in centuries ago life. BTW- lefse are not equivalent to pancakes, they are a specific type- may as well consider crepes the same. 'Tis the season to forget not everyone’s world revolves around Judeochristian mythology. HAPPY NEW YEAR TO ALL- the holiday that follows Thanksgiving for all of us here.</p>
<p>Actually, potato pancakes, latke style, are popular all over northern Europe. Germans call them kartoffelpuff and it is a fairly common meal, served with applesauce and often bacon or smoked pork chops on the side. They used to be common street food in the winter months and you can still get them at the farmer’s market. I know of one stand in Berlin, and the line for it at lunch is often very long. They are common in Poland, Sweden, all over the north. In fact it is good go to dish if you are traveling in these countries and find yourself in a restaurant of unknown quality. </p>
<p>I find it interesting that many people think of much Eastern European food as Jewish. I know that it is because so many of the Eastern European immigrants were in fact Jewish, but I grew up in a community that had a lot of Catholic Poles and much of the food the kids in the neighborhood were eating is what people think of as Jewish, whereas I tend to think of it first as Polish. While somethings seem to clearly have strong ties to religious practices, such as not eating pork, other things, like potato pancakes, seem to be more likely to have been a result of what was common in the community they were living in and the religious overtones were added later to bring the food into a celebration. </p>
<p>Kind of like candy canes. We all eat them at Christmas because our culture tells us to, not because there is religious tenant that requires us to, but I have heard Sunday School teachers and even priest talk about them representing the shepherd’s staff, etc,</p>
<p>P3T, you story reminds me of something that happened to our family. We were eating at a famous southern restaurant here in town with my family and extended family, about 12 of us. Our rabbi comes in with his wife and another couple and after the hellos, they are seated at the next table. When our food comes the servers were not the same as the person that took the orde,r so they are asking who had the chicken, who had the fish, etc… With a very loud voice one of the servers ask, “Who gets the pork chop?” My son sits there, looks over to the rabbi, and with a very quiet voice he answers. While we do eat pork, there is just something wrong with doing so within eyesight of your rabbi!</p>
<p>lololu: I guess the irony/funny part was that this was during the week of Chanukah that the segment was presented?..</p>
<p>yes, of course, potato pancakes are a traditional staple all over Europe, both Eastern and Western…</p>
<p>timing is everything…</p>
<p>snowball: great oops moment…</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>:eek: </p>
<p>Latkes and bacon is one thing, because latkes are potato pancakes which aren’t exclusively “Jewish” cuisine. Matzo balls and bacon fat is like a ham and cheese sandwich on matzo. Does not compute. </p>
<p>:)</p>
<p>Remember that not every Jew, particularly not in America, keeps kosher. I eat pork, bacon, shrimp, ham & cheese, etc. all the time. </p>
<p>But in a traditionally Jewish dish? Never! And not at a traditionally Jewish celebration - while my daughter’s bat mitzvah reception wasn’t held at a kosher place, we didn’t serve pork or shellfish. There’s just something wrong about it. And there are some traditions that are hard to break. Even though I’ll serve ice cream after dinner, or cheese on a meat dish like parmigiana, I just could never bring myself to serve a glass of milk with a meat meal. Odd, I know, but watcha gonna do?</p>
<p>And yes, I know that potato pancakes are common Eastern European fare; just don’t call them latkes, OK?</p>
<p>I think it would be nice to drop the idea of “bad Jew” = eating pork. To me a bad Jew is a bad person, perhaps one who disrespects or actively dislikes the religion. But not following kashrut - or the entire halachic structure - is a divider between the observant and the non-observant, not between good and bad.</p>
<p>This line has existed for thousands of years. It is generally believed that the Eastern Roman Empire - and Rome itself - was 10% Jewish and thus more than 10% in the cities of the East. These people were likely Hellenistic Jews, meaning those who believed in God, in the Jewish conceptions of God, but who likely adjusted the rituals to fit their lives and cultures. Modern Reform, part of the Conservative, some of the other less devout sects, are the intellectual descendants of Hellenistic Jews, meaning those Jews who look to the substance and who don’t treat adhering to the 613 mitzvot as an absolute requirement. To me, that kind of adherence can be undertaken as a choice but to believe that it matters, that God somehow rewards or punishes based on your ability to adhere to these old rules, is folk religion.</p>
<p>lergnom, so we shouldn’t diss Jews who eat pork. Fine by me. I’ve seen this thread as something amusing, and I apologize if anyone took my posts as anything but attempts at humor. Maybe we can also agree to not diss Jews (that “folk religion” comment) who choose to follow mitzvot.</p>
<p>Here’s to hoping we can return to our regularly scheduled seasonal (good) humor.</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>A relative had a Catholic live-in housekeeper and babysitter for many years, who ate with the family. When the woman moved to another (non-Jewish) household, she called her former employer to say that she was shocked, because the family served milk with meat meals! It’s amazing how you can get used to something as a tradition like that.</p>