Sufganiot and Krembo

• By the time Hanuka (minimalist spelling) arrives, many people have eaten as many soufganiot http://jerusalemblog.blogspot.com/2006/10/soufganiot.html as they want. I held off. This morning I bought one at the shouk (on Yafo between Mahaneh Yehuda Street and Eitz Khattim), still warm. The traditional explanation for eating soufgaiot during Hanuka is that, like lvivot (latkes) they are cooked in oil, and this is a reminder of the purified oil that lasted longer than expected after the Macabees cleaned the Temple. I am indebted to Jacky Levi for the explanation that eating soufganiot is the ultimate repudiation of the Hellenistic cult of the beautifuly trim body.
• A commenter at http://jerusalemblog.blogspot.com/2006/11/crembo.html remembers the confection as spelled with a k in English. He may well be right, although the package I bought had no English on it. I have typed "crembo" as a weak, bilingual pun, defining crembo lucus a non lucendo (see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lucus_a_non_lucendo ) because it has no cream in it (bo).

Copyright 2006 Jane S. Fox