Continued,,,

Our purpose here, of course, is not to attempt to educate you on Jewish tradition (Chanukah or otherwise) but to further enrich La Belle Cuisine and its visitors
with more traditional Jewish recipes. Holiday traditions, their history, (and the
food that accompanies them) interest me considerably. Therefore, with heartfelt thanks to our friends at chabad.org, we present the following brief introduction
to the traditional Chanukah celebration:

Chanukah in a Nutshell

"Chanukah -- the eight-day festival of light that begins on the eve of Kislev 25 -- celebrates the triumph of light over darkness, of purity over adulteration, of spirituality over materiality.
More than twenty-one centuries ago, the Holy Land was ruled by the Seleucids (Syrian-Greeks), who sought to forcefully Hellenize the people of Israel. Against
all odds, a small band of faithful Jews defeated one of the mightiest armies on
earth, drove the Greeks from the land, reclaimed the Holy Temple in Jerusalem
and rededicated it to the service of G-d.
When they sought to light the Temple's menorah, they found only a single cruse
of olive oil that had escaped contamination by the Greeks; miraculously, the
one-day supply burned for eight days, until new oil could be prepared under
conditions of ritual purity.
To commemorate and publicize these miracles, the sages instituted the festival of Chanukah. At the heart of the festival is the nightly menorah lighting: a single
flame on the first night, two on the second evening, and so on till the eighth
night of Chanukah, when all eight lights are kindled."

So, just exactly what is a "traditional" Chanukah menu? As best we've been
able to determine, the primary consideration seems to be cooking in oil. There seems to be a lot of emphasis in particular on cooking potato latkes in oil. Yum! Once again, a brief explanation courtesy chabad.org:

Oil and Cheese

"Chanukah commemorates an oil-based miracle—which explains why we eat
oily foods to commemorate it. Some eat fried potato pancakes, a.k.a latkes,
while others eat sufganiyot—deep-fried doughnuts. Some eat both. Most
survive the holiday.
Yes, food can be dangerous. One of the greatest Maccabee victories was the
result of feeding the enemy cheese—so we also eat dairy foods on Chanukah.
Again, we survive."

Okay. Sounds great! But a potato pancakes and jelly doughnuts do not a
holiday meal make, right? Right! Research tells us that a roast (let's just
say brisket) with root vegetables is borderline mandatory. Most certainly
traditional. And yes, roast chicken with root vegetables is fine as well.
Latkes are a given. Green vegetables and salad too, if you like, just keep
it simple...
(See page 1 for Sara Moulton's Red-Wine Braised Beef Brisket!)