Vegan Hanukkah in 8 Steps
Hanukkah is the festival of lights, and it’s also a festival of oil. On this holiday every year, Jews celebrate the miracle of a tiny bit of oil lasting eight long nights with family gatherings, food, and games. Observers whip up oil-based dishes such as potato pancakes and jam doughnuts and play dreidel, spinning for a handful of gelt (money).
Light the vegan candles and invite the whole family to get into the Hanukkah spirit.
Devour Doughnuts
Check out PETA Vegan Food Award winner The Doughnut Whisperer for your fix of sweetness delivered to your door. If you feel like baking your own, look no further, as we have the recipe for the chocolate doughnuts of your dreams – we just can’t guarantee that they will last all eight nights!
Prepare Egg-Free Potato Pancakes
You can go with a classic savoury latke, served with applesauce and dairy-free sour cream, or for a fun twist, whip up these röstis with a kick of coriander and chilli – all egg-free, of course!
Give Guilt-Free Gelt
Prizes for spinning the dreidel don’t have to be real money – give the sweeter kind! Vegan chocolate money is the gelt that the whole family will want to win and didn’t cause any cruelty to cows.
Fry Fishless Filets
Keep the fish in the sea and try some of the options in our Ultimate Guide to Vegan Fish. From fishless fingers to no-fish cakes, vegan scampi, and tuna, these fish-friendly delights are sure to hit the spot this Hanukkah, and fish will thank you.
Share Vegan Love
Spreading love and good wishes is always better with delicious food. Take a page out of Kenden Alfond’s cookbook Beyond Chopped Liver, which features veganised versions of delicious, traditional Hanukkah dishes that are sure to impress.
Look and Gift Your Best
Look your best around the frying pan and at all those holiday parties by wearing or gifting beauty products that haven’t been tested on bunnies or other animals! For the whole family, we love Tropic Skincare.
Wear Your Heart on Your Sleeve
Whether it’s for playing, spinning, singing or eating, make sure you’re always wrapped up warm and dressed up in materials for which no animals were hurt. For the younger members of the family, try some organic cotton knitwear that lets their skin breathe so they can run around and burn off even more energy!
Be Generous
One way to practice tikkun olam (healing the world) is to give tzedakah (charity) to your favourite organisations that are doing good things in the world. We have many ways to give this Hanukkah.
You don’t always have to give money. You could also join our Action Team and give your time. And giving the gift of your name to a petition that you care about is a way to show generosity to animals of all kinds.
