Hannukah gelt guilt

When it comes to the Jewish food I grew up on, I couldn’t get enough of the lox, latkes, challah, hell, I even love me some fried Matzo now and again. But I could never get into Hannukah chocolate coins or “gelt.” In the mid-’80s my older brother and I would share a serious nerd moment and tear open the mesh bags to wear them on our hands as fingerless “breakdancing gloves,” but even then we weren’t feeling the chocolate inside. It’s always had a weird texture, a bland, chalky taste and is way too much trouble to get to what with Fort Knox alumium foil wrapping that would throw a one-two paper-cut-punch as you tried to pry it apart. Somehow I still end up with a bag of Hannukah gelt every year, and I give it a shot hoping my tastebuds will finally acclimate just as they evenually did to gefilte fish. But the chalky taste remains. Next year, I’ll ask my aunt to send good chocolate or real coinage? Now don’t get me started on Manishevitz. Happy Hannukah y’all!