So I’m having this party next week, and one of the people helping (hopefully) with the cooking isn’t Jewish. No big deal, I’m starting the oven, and will probably have a hand in some stage of cooking each batch anyway, so there are no real bishul akum issues. Now, in simple terms, bishul akum only applies to food which cannot be eaten raw (i.e. cooking is a required step in its consumption) and is of sufficient quality that it falls under the category of oleh l’shulchan ha-melech (or oleh al shulchan melachim), that is, sufficient to be placed upon a kings table.

Now, with the rise of processed foods, where a base level of quality is assured (at least in the U.S.) a variety of interpretations of this standard have appeared (which was a subjective standard to begin with) ranging from the very lenient approach which restricts the definition to what the White House would consider using for a state dinner, to a stringent approach which applies to pretty much all canned goods where the other technical points of the definition is met.

So what are latkes? Let’s take the maikel (lenient) approach mentioned above (held by Soloveitchik). Would latkes be served at a state dinner? Well, while not the highest of cuisine, I could imagine latkes – not made from a mix – being used to placate Jewish campaign contributors in the “me too” spirit of the American holiday season. While latkes are more or less glorified tater-tots, is this use enough to term them as oleh l’shulchan ha-melech – and if so, does it fall into the category year round?

Then again, I know one Jew who was at a Democratic fundraiser in New York on Pesach some ten years ago, and ate matzah at a table with Clinton. (He apologetically began to explain, whereupon Clinton interrupted with “Matzah! I love that stuff,” and took some to eat. The man knows how to work a crowd.) Does that halachically elevate lechem ani to the table of the king too?

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