The Great Latke Hamantash Debate or Keeping Good Company

The Great Latke-Hamantash Debate

Author: Ruth Fredman Cernea

Creation versus evolution. Nature versus nurture. Free will versus determinism. Every November at the University of Chicago, the best minds in the world consider the question that ranks with these as one of the most enduring of human history: latke or hamantash? This great latke-hamantash debate, occurring every year for the past six decades, brings Nobel laureates, university presidents, and notable scholars together to debate whether the potato pancake or the triangular Purim pastry is in fact the worthier food.

What began as an informal gathering is now an institution that has been replicated on campuses nationwide. Highly absurd yet deeply serious, the annual debate is an
opportunity for both ethnic celebration and academic farce. In poetry, essays, jokes, and revisionist histories, members of elite American academies attack the latke-versus-hamantash question with intellectual panache and an unerring sense of humor, if not chutzpah. The Great Latke-Hamantash Debate is the first collection of the best of these performances, from Martha Nussbaum's paean to both foods—in the style of Hecuba's Lament—to Nobel laureate Leon Lederman's proclamation on the union of the celebrated dyad. The latke and the hamantash are here revealed as playing a critical role in everything from Chinese history to the Renaissance, the works of Jane Austen to constitutional law.

Philosopher and humorist Ted Cohen supplies a wry foreword, while anthropologist Ruth Fredman Cernea provides historical and social context as well as an overview of the Jewish holidays, latke and hamantash recipes, and a glossary of Yiddish and Hebrew terms, making the book accessible evento the uninitiated. The University of Chicago may have split the atom in 1942, but it's still working on the equally significant issue of the latke versus the hamantash.

“As if we didn’t have enough on our plates, here’s something new to argue about. . . . To have to pick between sweet and savory, round and triangular, latke and hamantash. How to choose? . . . Thank goodness one of our great universities—Chicago, no less—is on the case. For more than 60 years, it has staged an annual latke-hamantash debate. . . . So, is this book funny? Of course it’s funny, even laugh-out-loud funny. It’s Mickey Katz in academic drag, Borscht Belt with a PhD.”—David Kaufmann, Forward

Table of Contents:

Foreword, by Ted Cohen
Acknowledgments
Introduction
Food for Academic and Gastric Digestion

Round One - Metahamantashen; or, Shooting Off the Can(n)on
Freedom, Latkes, and American Letters: An Original Contribution to Knowledge
Bernard A. Weisberger

Restoring the Jewish Canon
Allan Bloom

Consolations of the Latke
Ted Cohen

The Hamantash in Shakespeare
Lawrence Sherman

Jane Austen’s Love and Latkes
Stuart Tave

The Latke’s Role in the Renaissance
Hanna Holborn Gray

The Approach through Bibliography
Leon Carnovsky

L’éternel retour: The Dichotomy of Latke-Hamantash in Old and New French
Peter F. Dembowski

The Apotheosis of the Latke: A Philosophical Analysis
Alan Gewirth

Noshes
le="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"David Malament, Marvin Mirsky, Steven Watter, Harold Wechsler

Round Two - POTatoes, Rockin’ Latkes, and Another Essence-ial Soul Food

The Latke vs. the Hamantash in an Age of (M)oral Crisis
Herbert C. Kelman

Influences of Latkes, Hamantashen, and Jewish Cooking in General on the Roots of Rock 'n’
Roll
William Meadow

The Fundamental Jewish Cuisine
Paul Root Wolpe

Noshes
Steven Watter, Godfrey S. Getz, Israel N. Herstein, Murray H. Loew

Round Three - Accentuate the Positivists

The Voyage on the Bagel: In Honor of the Darwin Centennial
Elihu Katz and Jacob J. Feldman

The Latke and the Hamantash at the Fifty-Yard Line
Milton Friedman

Hamantash, Bagel, or Latke: Who Has the Power?
Shalom Schwartz

The Latke, the Hamantash, the Common Market, and Creativity
Jacob Getzels

Noshes
Stephen Z. Cohen, Elihu Katz, Nancy L. Stein, Jacob Getzels, John Laster

Round Four - Luminous, Luscious Latkes; Bewitching, Beguiling Hamantashen Ode to the Latke
Edward Stankiewicz

The Ineffable Allure of Hamantashen
Barbara Maria Stafford

Bull's Homage to a Latke: An Acrostic
Simon Hellerstein

Noshes
Ralph Marcus, Roger Weiss

Round Five - Combine and Deconstruct All Ingredients

Madeleine, Oh, Madeleine; or, Meditation on Short, Plump Pastries
Françoise Meltzer

The Hermeneutics of the Hamantash
Emilie S. Passow

Noshes
Marianne H. Whatley, Hasia Diner

Round Six - Semiotics and Anti-Semiotics

Heartburn as a Cultural System
Michael Silverstein

Latke vs. Hamantash: A Feminist Critique
Judith Shapiro

Latke vs. Hamantash: A Materialist-Feminist Analysis; A Reply to Judith Shapiro
Robin Leidner

Latkes and Hamantashen as Dominant Symbols in Jewish Critical Thought
Marvin Mirsky

The Hamantash vs. the Latke: An Archetypal Study
Eugene Goodheart

Noshes
Zalman Usiskin, Harry Harootunian, Howard Aronson, Bernard S. Cohn, Ralph W. Nicholas

Round Seven - Shrouded in Mystery: Spinning Latkes and Neutrinos

From Cain to Quincy: Jewish Foods as Weapons of Violence
Robert Kirschner

A New Page in the History of Atomic Physics
Jerrold M. Sadock

The Scientific Method and the Latke-Hamantash Issue
Edward W. Kolb

Paired Matter, Edible and Inedible
Leon M. Lederman

Noshes
Josef Stern, Morrel H. Cohen, Isaac Abella

Round Eight - Appealing to a Higher Authority

The Rights and Wrongs of Latkes
Geoffrey R. Stone

The Bioethical Implications of the Latke-Hamantash Debate; or, Small Fry, Deep Fry, in Your Eye, Northrop Frye
John D. Lantos

Noshes
Harry Kalven, Jr., Philip Gossett

Round Nine - Mythdefying Origins

Euripides' The Cooks of Troy: Hecuba's Lament
Martha C. Nussbaum

The Secret History of the Hamantash in China
Judith Zeitlin

The Hamantash and the Foundation of Civilization; or, The Edible Triangle, the Oedipal Triangle, and the Interpretation of History
Harold T. Shapiro

The Archetypal Hamantash: A Feminist Mythology; An Exercise in the History of Religious Methodology
Wendy Doniger

Noshes

New interesting book: Esophogeal Cancer or Brown Skin

Keeping Good Company: A Season-by-Season Collection of Recipes, with Entertaining and Homemade Ideas

Author: Roxie kelley and friends

Roxie Kelley and Shelly Reeves Smith nourish the body and soul by combining simple yet satisfying recipes with tips on gracious living and friendly entertaining, all presented alongside warm and inviting hand-drawn illustrations. Destined to become a treasured family keepsake, each this features flavorful recipes along with distinctive touches:

This beautifully illustrated book is organized around the changing seasons to make the most of incorporating fresh ingredients into everyday family meals and special holiday gatherings, featuring recipes such as Ranch Avocado Dip (Spring), Midnight Moon Potato Salad (Summer), Roasted Vegetable Bisque (Autumn), and Chicken Strudel (Winter). A chapter titled "Morning, Noon, and Night," has crave-worthy recipes for anytime, such as Cream Cheese Twists, Meat Loaf, and Almost Fat-Free Chocolate Cake.