How Donuts Took Over Hanukkah in Israel

While the tradition of eating sufganiyot is picking up in popularity in the US, latkes (fried potato or other root vegetables) pancakes are still the most frequently eaten Hanukkah food here. But in Israel, Hanukkah and sufganiyot are well, synonymous. Surprisingly, jelly donuts made their way to Israel via Polish Jews, not Eastern Mizrachi Jews.

According to Jewish Food Historian, Gil Marks, the first recipe for Jelly Donuts on record was published in a cookbook on the new Gutenberg Press in Germany in 1485. Then, in the 1500s, two important jelly donut-related events occurred: the cost of sugar went down with the proliferation of slave-produced sugar in the Caribbean, and the jelly donut recipe was translated into Polish.

By 1600, jelly donuts, called paczki, were a commonplace and beloved confection throughout Poland on Hanukkah, Christmas, and other special occasions. In Yiddish, they were called ponchiks, and fried in schmaltz, goose fat, or oil. Interestingly, unfilled donuts, in Yiddish, were called simply ‘donats.’

Throughout the 19th and 20th centuries, the tradition of jelly donuts traveled with Polish Jews wherever they immigrated. According to Marks, sufganiyot (from sfog, sponge) became tied to Hanukkah in Israel in the 1920s, when the Israeli Labor Federation declared them the official food of Hanukkah. What’s the connection between jelly donuts and the labor federation, you ask? While latkes are easy to make at home, sufganiyot provided Israelis with jobs — think of all the baking, transporting, and merchandising behind every box of donuts!

Without much resistance, the sufganiya outpaced the fried potato pancake as the culinary symbol of the eight-day holiday, and an industry was born. Almost 90 years later, sufganiyot are ubiquitous in Israel in a very competitive market. They are sold in supermarkets, restaurants, bakeshops, and open markets. Donut contests abound and everyone has their favorite bakery.

While most of the donuts sold in Israel are classic jelly, every year the race is on to come up with the most delectable, unusual, and beautiful confection in the country.

• Angel Bakeries, the largest commercial bakery in Israel, purportedly fries more than 250,000 sufganiyot during each day of the holiday.
  

• The popular bakery chain, Roladin, invests a tremendous amount to market their new “collection” of donuts each year—designed with gorgeous artistry.
  

• And for the vegans among us (since Tel Aviv has been referred to as the vegan capital of the world), vegan options are available even in the world of sufganiyot. The bakery chain, Piece of Cake, offers a selection of six vegan donuts like the double jam donut or the halvah-glazed variety.
  

• The top-tier Jerusalem bakery, Kadosh offers both exquisitely embellished donuts and cronuts every year and gives Roladin stiff competition as the #1 donut maker in Jerusalem.
  

• First introduced over Hanukkah in 2016, Burger King in Israel offers a special “donut burger” (SufganiKing). It’s a normal Whopper hamburger but with donuts replacing the buns, and ketchup replacing the normal jelly donut filling. Gotta go with creative for that one!

Now that we have listed some of our favorites - we want to hear some of yours!

Make sure to list your most beloved bakeries in the comment section below!