Why do we Eat our Tradition?

After 3 days of Hannukkah celebrations, I find myself thinking about how much I ate the past three days, and how I am going to make it through the next 5 without pushing the scale over the limit.

Why is it that we have so many traditions with symbols that show up on the table? At Passover we have a menu full of symbolic foods to go through during the seder, enhanced by ethnic additions and variations. At Shavuot we eat dairy dishes. And now, at Hannukkah, we are celebrating the miracle of the oil lasting 8 days by eating foods cooked in buckets of it. In our day and age, this is so opposite of what most of us strive to do while cooking and feeding our families. I do not know the answer to this, but am hoping some of you out there can offer up some reasons and opinions. How is it that food can cross some magical barrier and children and adults alike learn more easily through the use of food in teaching about our traditions? Is there a connection between eating and learning?

Another thing to think about is how this has evolved. Obviously, throughout the ages Jews' access to foods has waxed and waned. In times of abundance, the symbolic eating of special foods must have been relatively easy, like it is today. Preparing rich dishes was a symbol of wealth and status. During times when the Jews were oppressed, the pursuit of even a small bit of a symbolic food must have been all consuming. Today in our community, we hunt around The Valley to find just the right sufganyot, the best brisket, special items directly from Israel for our feasts. We offer up recommendations to all who will listen. We try new recipes to impress our friends and satisfy our families. We make recipes passed down for generations. It makes us feel connected to our tradition. Is this the answer to my question in the preceding paragraph? If yes, how can we tweak things so that food is not so central to our celebrations? What are we learning from the cooking and eating that we can also learn another way?

I am looking for some new traditions related to food. This year I have made zucchini latkes, and also oven baked potato latkes. They were actually refreshing after having the deep fried kind. But this still does not take away from the fact that the food is often central to the celebration at our house. And I am still having a hard time staying out of the kitchen and not noshing!