Carole Green Ungar writes in Jewish Action, "According to food historian Gil Marks, the first latkes, called kartoffelpfannkuchen, were fashioned from coarse potatoes fried in schmaltz. Eventually the name was changed to kartoffell latke and finally to just plain latke...The earliest American Jewish cookbook, Aunt Babette's Cookbook: Foreign and Domestic Recipes for the Household, published in Cincinnati in 1889, includes a latke recipe."
http://zvuvisisrael.blogspot.co.il/2013/11/im-going-to-annual-olive-branch.html
Tami always has something specifically child-centered and values-connected to add to our Jewish holidays. In this entry Tami writes about her trip to the annual olive branch festival in Israel. Maybe we can go some year. Information can be found at http://www.gogalilee.org/festivals.asp?p=9513