Traditional Hanukkah foods

There is a custom to have Hanukkah parties and to eat foods fried or baked in oil, preferably olive oil, as the original miracle of the Hanukkah menorah involved the discovery of the small flask of oil used by the Jewish High Priest (the Kohen Gadol). Many Ashkenazi families make potato pancakes, known as latkes in Yiddish. Many Sephardim as well as Polish Ashkenazim and Israelis have the custom to eat all kinds of doughnuts (bimuelos or sufganiyot) which are deep-fried in oil.

There is also a custom of eating Dairy on Chanukah. The story around it is that in 164 BC, Holofernes, a Greek general, surrounded the village of Bethulia. After intense fighting, a Jewish heroine Yehudis scolded the elders for wanting to surrender. Then, she asked Holofernes if she could be a spy for him. When she met him in his tent, she offered him salty cheese, and then some wine to wash it down with. These made him fall asleep, which gave Yehudis an open chance to behead him, which she did. Then she stealthily escaped from his tent. When the Greek soldiers found his corpse, they retreated in fear.