As we go through the annual cycle, we can track the holidays by what we eat. Many of us have fond childhood recollections of the family gathering around the table, talking noisily, argument and laughter and, yes, eating and then eating some more.

Jewish tradition has classic food pairings with specific holidays. Chanukah equals potato pancakes and Purim has Hamentashen. Passover foods are not just custom; the prohibition against leavened products is religious law.

Shavuos’ dairy dishes are not required by law, but it wouldn’t be Shavuos without cheese blintzes.

Different theories explain the origin of the dairy menu. Most agree that the Torah, given on Shavuos, is sweet as milk and honey. Others say that when first commanded to separate milk from meat, few cooks were ready with the logistics, and dairy was easier to prepare with the existing equipment.

There’s a bit of history and a bit of mythology surrounding the blintz, a thin pancake wrapped around a filling. Gastronomically, its closest cousin is the French “crepe.” Like the crepe, many fillings work with blintzes.

Some are “pareve,” neither milk nor meat and compatible with either, such as cherries or potatoes. Some blintzes are savory, suitable for accompanying a main course, such as potatoes with onions. Yet most blintzes are sweet, particularly those with fruit or cheese fillings.

Almost certainly, the blintz is a Polish invention, as popular with the native Poles as with Jews of European descent. The word clearly is Slavic, as in “blini,” the buckwheat pancake that Russians serve with melted butter and, when they’re flush, with caviar. The Hungarian word for pancake, “palascinta,” has a similar root sound.

An Internet story claims that the Spanish King Ferdinand and Queen Isabella spared their Jewish blintz chef from the Inquisition, but this anecdote seems absurd. The Inquisition affected the “Sephardim,” derived from “Sefarad,” Hebrew for "Spanish." At that moment in history, Jews had not yet dispersed into Eastern Europe. Therefore, a Sephardic Jew, in that era of no communication and little travel, would not have known a Slavic recipe.

Another report tells of a young Russian Jew recruited into Stalin’s secret police. When someone attempted to poison Stalin’s food, Stalin had all six of his chefs executed, and appointed this Jewish boy as his replacement chef. The boy knew only two recipes, for latkas and for blintzes, and he claims that Stalin became very fond of those blintzes. He later escaped from Russia, and subsequently told his story. (See: www.jpost.com/com/Archive/27.Jul.1998/Features/Article-20.html)

Some blintz recipes follow, including the original cheese blintz recipe attributed to New York City’s Stage Delicatessen, as well as a blintz “Soufflé.” This Souffle is less labor intensive than individual blintzes. It also does not require frying, therefore eliminating the fat used for that technique, and the ensuing calories.

Blintzes blitz America!

Apparently, this recipe made it into a publication for country inn keepers, because on the Web, it shows up in on the menus of dozens of bed-and-breakfasts from New Hampshire to California.

So go ahead, make some memories.