What type of food is a latke?

What type of food is a latke? A latke is a potato pancake. It is a fried dish associated especially with Ashkenazi Jewish cuisine and the Hanukkah festival.

Modern latkes are usually made from grated potatoes mixed with onion, egg, and flour or matzo meal, then fried in oil until crisp. They are commonly served with sour cream or applesauce. Their oil-cooked preparation connects them with the Hanukkah tradition of remembering the Temple oil that, according to Jewish tradition, lasted eight days.

Potatoes were not always the main ingredient. Earlier European Jewish latkes could be made from cheese, grains, or other vegetables. Potatoes became dominant in Eastern Europe after they became an inexpensive, widely available crop in the 19th century.

A common mix-up is treating “latke” as meaning any pancake. The word refers broadly to a fried pancake or fritter, but in contemporary English the canonical meaning is the potato version. The Hebrew term levivot is also used for these Hanukkah foods.