This is more of a historical post than a word post, though it's related to words.

I read in the Tribune today (but can't find the article online) that latkes (a Yiddish word) actually started in Sicily as an Italian dish - with Ricotta cheese, and not potatoes. The Italian word for them is cassola. Are cassola (is it plural?) like blintzes? I am trying to picture them. Here is a related blog entry. It was the Ashkenazi Jews in Eastern Europe who, at a much later time, began to use potatoes. I had not known that.

On another note - I also learned about salsify - a root - today. There was a Thanksgiving recipe for salsify, and I asked Shu what it was. He said, "It must be a verbified word for salsa." Made sense, but no cigar.

This message has been edited. Last edited by: Kalleh,

I think the Jewish version is enough different from the Sicilian one that it qualifies is an invention all of itself. And I love 'em! :-)

I've seen salsify in recipe books, but never was curious enough to look it up.

latkes

Wikipedia has a pretty good article covering potato pancakes across much of Europe (link). I have had latkes, Reibekuchen (German), and placki ziemniaczane (Polish), and they were all great. Since the potato came from the New World, they're only about 500 years old at most.

And of course in the U.S. it's hasbrowns.

When our kids were very young, they went to a school where there were very few (any?) Jews. At Hanukkah/Christmas time, with all the Christian celebrations, I asked the teacher if I could teach the kids about Hanukkah. Of course she agreed, and I brought in Hanukkah cookies (a wonderful Hungarian recipe), we lit the candles, and I made latkes for them, bringing in apple sauce and sour cream. Of course, I told them the Hanukkah story as I cooked the latkes. The kids were about 5 and very interested in every move I made. When the first latke was finally done, one little (and rather impatient) boy yelled, "They're hasbrowns!"

quote:

Originally posted by Kalleh:
And of course in the U.S. it's hasbrowns.

But Hebrew laktes predate the introduction of potatoes to Yurrip and the Muddle East.

Until reading Z's link I hadn't realized that "latke" is the same in Russian. It transliterates exactly.

English got latke from Yiddish. Yiddish got it from a Slavic language; perhaps Ukrainian or Russian. The Ashkenazic Yiddish speakers came from Italy through France, into Germany, and then on to Eastern Europe (Poland, Belorussia, and Latvia). I'd think they were in the Pale by the time potatoes made their way into Europe from the New World. A lot of what we think of as prototypical Jewish food here in the States originated in Europe and not the Ancient Near East (or Middle East). Probably one of the oldest Ashkenazic foods is cholent 'a stew of beans, barley, and other ingrediants (from Yiddish tsholent). Since the word is from Romance (and first mentioned in the 1200s) it probably dates from the Ashkenazim's time in France. Potatoes were added after being introduced into Europe.