Bowdoin College Hillel, run by Talia Cowen ’16 and Zachary Albert ’16, recently organized a campus debate on which is the superior treat: latkes or hamentaschen. Albert described it as “the greatest debate in Jewish culinary history.”

The student organization invited four “esteemed” panelists to contribute their thoughts on the merits of the fried potato pancake or the pastry. Assistant Professor of History David Hecht moderated the event. Professor of English Marilyn Reizbaum and Assistant Professor of Psychology Zachary Rothschild defended the hamentaschen, while Assistant Professor of Religion Todd Berzon and Assistant Professor of Economics Matthew Botsch defended the latke.

Each of the panelists gave an impassioned, informed and persuasive argument, which you can listen to if you click on the links below. For those who don’t have time, we’ve synthesized a few of the
points in an infographic. (These aren’t exact quotes.)

The winners of the debate were the pro-latke team. After the debate, attendees and panelists were treated to homemade latkes and hamentaschen.

Introduction and Todd Berzon

Marilyn Reizbaum

Matthew Botsch

Zachary Rothschild

Reporting by Busra Eriz ’17