Paula Kraft, founder and President of Atlanta, GA-based Tastefully Yours Catering.
Chanukah Sameach, Freilichen Chanukah, Happy Hanukkah!

Hanukkah - also known as the Festival of Lights - is a Jewish holiday commemorating the rededication of the Holy Temple (the Second Temple) in Jerusalem at the time of the Maccabean Revolt against the Seleucid Empire of the 2nd century BC.

Hanukkah is observed for eight nights and days, starting on the 25th day of Kislev according to the Hebrew calendar, which may occur at any time from late November to late December in the Gregorian calendar. This year the Holiday began on Tuesday, December 12th and continues until nightfall on Wednesday, December 20th. To understand the specific dietary needs during this holiday I needed to understand the holiday a bit more than I already did. I want to share with you this beautiful explanation about the holiday celebration:

“Hanukkah celebrates the triumph of light over darkness, of purity over adulteration, of spirituality over materiality. The battle was fought to force the Jews to surrender to Syrian-Greek laws and religion. After their victory, the Jews reclaimed their holy temple (Beit Hamikdash) in Jerusalem. Olive oil had been used, and was again, to re-light the sacred menorah (a nine-branched candlestick), but as only one of the oil flasks had remained untouched by the invaders, the warriors knew there would only be enough oil to burn for one day. Miraculously however, the oil allowed the candles to burn bright for eight days, allowing time to prepare a fresh supply of kosher oil for the menorah and an eight-day festival was declared by the Jewish sages to commemorate this miracle. Thus Hanukkah celebrates the lighting of the candles; one each day.

Special prayers and songs are recited during the festival with the words “ Hallel and Al Ha Nissim” added to daily prayers, offering praise and thanksgiving to God for "delivering the strong into the hands of the weak, the many into the hands of the few, the wicked into the hands of the righteous."

At this time I thought it might be of interest for you to have a few ideas of the foods to serve on board which would show your passenger that you are aware that this time-honored traditional celebration is a joyous time. Also that you understand the reason why certain food types are such an important part of the classical holiday foods.

Once you understand the key foods to serve during Hanukkah, creating a menu is simple . . . but very important. Hanukkah, also spelled Chanukah, is a happy and joyous celebration for Jewish people around the world and which in Hebrew means “dedication”. Fasting during this celebration is forbidden.

The celebration is all about joy, lights, songs, gifts and food!

Common traditions during Hanukkah include the lighting of the menorah, the spinning of the dreidel (a spinning top on which are inscribed the Hebrew letters nun, gimmel, hei and shin, an acronym for Nes Gadol Hayah Sham, "a great miracle happened there") and eating delicious, mouthwatering, rich, fried foods.

Yes, I said fried. You ask why fried? Well, Hanukkah is the celebration of the miracle of oil, oil used in lighting the menorah. Foods should contain or be cooked in oil.

Now this presents bit of a problem for the aircraft as fried foods do not generally reheat well. The oil used in the frying tends to drain out of the food leaving them soggy when heated again. Foods such as latkes (Latkes in Yiddish and Levivot in Hebrew are simply potato pancakes) are a customary dish. There are other kinds of pancakes besides the standard potato; cheese, curried sweet potato latkes, zucchini, leek, even a latke with celeriac and parsnips.

The latest trending latkes are composed of cauliflower, or broccoli, guacamole, different cheeses and even tuna. Any number of savory toppings such as crème fraiche, applesauce, nuts, caviar or pomegranate seeds can be added to offset the crispy fried texture.

There are also sweetened latkes made with sweetened cheese which can be dusted with powdered sugar or topped with nuts, jellies or jams.

You will also find Rugelach; (a sweet cream filled pastry ) and Sufganiot (doughnuts covered in powdered sugar and filled with jellies); Levivah fried potato pancake, fried apple fritters; cheese-filled doughnuts fried in oil and dipped in honey; and cheese blintzes, to name just a few.

Comfort foods

Not only fried foods are traditionally served during Hanukkah, but also comfort foods. These traditional foods vary according to country of origin. For example Jews of Eastern European countries (or Ashkenazi) eat latkes, fried potato pancakes. Sephardic Jews eat different varieties of deep-fried doughnuts. Greek Jews call them Loukomades; Persian Jews refer to them as Zelebi, while in Israel jelly doughnuts are super popular and known as Sufganiot. It is also customary to eat dairy foods in commemoration of the bravery of Yehudit, who used cheese to defeat the Greek general Holofernes. I loved this story. It is told that Yehudit was a young and beautiful woman who seduced the ruling general by offering him salty cheese, which made him thirsty, for which she offered him wine to quench his thirst. All the while her friends and family were dying of thirst and hunger because his edicts prevented the Jews from using the water sources. Once he was drunk from the wine and asleep, she beheaded him and took his head to her town of Bethulia where it was displayed for all to see. Holofernes’ soldiers ran in fear, thus the water was restored to the Jews. Yehudit had saved her people and all the people of Israel which is why cheese and cheese dishes are important to the meals served during Hanukkah. They can be appetizers, soups, part of salads, entrees and even desserts.
	Swiss Chard with Horseradish
	Caramelized Pear Bread Pudding

And one more food related custom that I think we should all adopt: ”It is customary amongst Sephardic residents of Jerusalem to arrange communal meals during the eight days of Hanukkah. Friends who quarreled during the year traditionally reconcile at these meals”.

A sample Hanukkah menu

• Caramelized Onion-Potato Spread
• Watercress, Arugula, and Citrus Salad
• Tomato Soup with Parmesan Toast
• Spice-Rubbed Roasted Salmon with Lemon-Garlic Spinach, OR

• Baked Salmon with Potato Scales
• Swiss Chard with Horseradish
• Potato-Scallion Latkes
• Maple-Tangerine Carrot Coins
• Chocolate-Drizzled Mandelbrot, OR

• Caramelized Pear Bread Pudding

Apples also play a key role in the menus . . . apples add sweetness to the meal. They can also be used for any course whether planning a cheese meal or a meat meal. A beef brisket simmered in wine, a pot roast braised with root vegetables, baked chicken dishes are all comfort foods.

Dessert and sweets play a big role as well. Shaped sugar cookies, cupcake menorahs, Hanukkah donuts, apple stuffed fritters, and sweetened cheese blintzes topped with jam and powdered sugar.

Round cookies wrapped in foil to represent the coins shared or even the simple foil wrapped coin chocolates that are easy to locate in various markets.

With a little planning and help from your catering source, you can easily honor the Jewish traditions that are celebrated during Hanukkah.

About Paula Kraft . . . Paula Kraft is the founding partner of the DaVinci Inflight Training Institute located in Fort Lauderdale, Florida and the founder/president of Tastefully Yours Catering, an aviation specific caterer, located in Atlanta, Georgia for over 35 years. Paula is active with many aviation and catering-related groups including the International Caterers Association, the International Inflight Food Service Association and is a board member of Women in Corporate Aviation. She is the past chair of the NBAA Flight Attendant Committee Caterer’s Working Group for 15 years perfecting unique catering training sessions for NBAA conferences and events. Currently, she serves on the NBAA Flight Attendant Advisory Committee and is a member of the Training and Safety Subcommittee. Paula was a founding member of the Steering committee for the creation of a European Flight Attendant Committee and conference and serves as a subject matter expert to the board of International Standard for Business Aircraft Handlers (IS-BAH). After founding Tastefully Yours Catering, she has been offering culinary and food safety related training to the general aviation community. With a strong dedication to improving catering safety, risk mitigation and safe food handling, she developed and introduced the concept of “catering safety management systems”. As a certified food safety instructor, Paula offers catering SMS and culinary classes for all aviation professionals. Paula’s first-hand experience, business acumen, research, and relationships make her an industry expert - one which allows her to share information that will help raise the professional training level for flight attendants today that will reduce the risk of food-related concerns tomorrow. From Paula . . . I have coordinated training programs and clinics for NBAA and EBAA conference attendees for over 10 years, created mentoring programs for caterers and flight attendants to broaden their aviation culinary skills, and to assist them in adapting to the unique challenges and constraints found in catering for general aviation. I recognize the need for training and have worked closely with flight departments, flight crews, schedulers and customer service reps at the FBOs to ensure that catering specific training provides information and skills necessary to reduce risk while assisting them in their job duties that include safe food handling, catering security, accurate transmission of food orders, and safe food production, packaging and delivery. I fell into aviation catering quite by accident. I was the in-house caterer and bakery supplier for Macy’s department stores in Atlanta when catering was ordered for a Macy’s customer which was soon to change my life. After the client enjoyed the catering provided, I was summoned to the client’s corporate office to provide several of the items delivered through Macy’s to the executive dining room. Within a week, I was providing food for the flight department and my first order was for the President of a foreign country (as I was too be told soon after). So, here I am, some 35 years later, still loving every minute of every day in aviation catering. Got a question? Paula welcomes your comments, questions or feedback email: paula.kraft@blueskynews.aero

BlueSky Business Aviation News | 14th December 2017 | Issue #443