The Reason Molly Yeh Thinks Latkes Should Be A Passover Food

The Passover gives Jewish families a chance to bond over delicious food as they retell the stories from their ancestors' pasts over a meal called the Seder (via the Huffington Post). As explained by Time, the origin story revolves around ancient Jews achieving freedom from being slaves in Egypt. But the festival is adapted by families in different ways. The holiday is a long one and is observed for seven to eight days. 

Some of the most popular recipes around this time include traditional items like karpas, which are similar to parsley; Charoset, which is a sweet concoction made with wine, nuts, and honey; roasted lamb called Z'roa, and many more dishes. Additionally, the Jews stick to unleavened bread during this time and avoid grain-based food items that have "come into contact with water and been allowed to ferment and rise." That means rules out many foods that contain oats, wheat, barley, and more. 

While Passover foods are often discussed in terms of what can't be eaten, food celebrity Molly Yeh, who is half-Jewish, has an idea about one food she thinks should be eaten during Passover: latkes. She recently put up a post about her food suggestions on Instagram.

Yeh recently posted a photo of a skillet filled with delicious-looking latkes combined with eggs and lox on Instagram and asked, "Shouldn't latkes be passover food too because they are the perfect carb stand-in for bread??" A fan was amazed by her suggestion and wrote, "Skillet latke?! Genius idea, especially for Passover. Can't wait to make it!" In addition to adding a way to replace carbs excluded by dietary restrictions, Yeh's creative suggestion to include latkes in the Passover tradition seems to fit with her broader ideas on being inclusive with food and culture.

According to a piece by 18doors, Molly Yeh's parents come from different backgrounds. She has an Episcopalian Chinese father and a Hungarian Jewish mom. She is proud to incorporate lessons from her mixed roots into everything she does. She said, "From the beginning, I was into creating food that I didn't see anywhere else, food that combined my Chinese and Jewish heritages, like scallion pancake challah... pastrami eggrolls. I stuck to what I was really passionate about."

Additionally, she feels very strongly about her Jewish roots and said she plans to teach her daughter, Bernie, about Judaism: "I do love Jewish culture and Jewish values and will teach them to her."