No matter what holiday you celebrate, it is sure to come with a side of good food. Everyone has traditions around the holidays, whether it’s Granny’s peppermint brownies or Uncle Bob’s jello salad with marshmallows. We associate these foods with good times and good company. We share recipes, connecting in the kitchen. We value this relationship built off of food with our relatives. This is what makes the holiday season so special.

Many people have heard of sweet potatoes with marshmallows but have you ever heard of sweet potatoes with oranges? Every Thanksgiving, sophomore Chancellor Avolio’s family makes mashed sweet potatoes with orange flavoring in empty orange peels.

“This dish is an old thing in our family and I don’t really know why but it’s been passed down for many generations,” Aviolo said.

While most of the time his grandmother makes the dish, Chancellor has picked it up over his lifetime.

What Chancellor likes about this dish is that he only eats it on Thanksgiving,

making it feel rare.

“I like holiday foods because they’re special because you can’t enjoy them all the time,” Aviolo said.

Every Hannukah, Sarah Burns and her family enjoy latkes, a traditional Jewish potato pancake. While sometimes they go to Trader Joe’s and get them from the frozen aisle, Burns’ family often works together to prepare them.

“We all help each other and it’s this whole team chain,” Burns said. “There’s someone grating the potatoes, there’s someone at the stove, there’s someone doing every part of the making process.”

Burns says while the process makes her whole house smell like oil, there is a meaning behind it.

“On Hanukkah, we eat a lot of fried food to represent the oil that was used for the eight days of Hannukah that was only thought to last for one night,” Burns said.

Holiday foods mean more to Burns than just their deliciousness.

“Jewish holidays are very food-oriented,” Burns said. “A lot of foods have deeper meanings so food is very important in my house around the holidays.”