CARRBORO - The eight days of Hanukkah have begun. For one Carrboro couple, finding a common thread in the holiday has led to a celebration that combines Klezmer (Yiddish) music ... and jelly donuts.

"Food and cultural intersections are very important to me," said April McGreger, owner of Farmer's Daughter Brand, a farm-driven artisan food business based in Carrboro. McGregor grew up in rural Mississippi, the daughter of a sweet potato farmer. Her Jewish husband, Phil Blank, grew up in the suburbs of Philadelphia.

Hanukkah, also known as the eight-day Festival of Lights, commemorates the Maccabeans reclaiming the Holy Temple in Jerusalem. When the Jews went to light the Temple's menorah, they found only enough oil for one night, but miraculously, the supply burned for eight days. The festival commemorates the revolt, the rededication of the temple, and the miracle of oil and light.

As McGreger gently rolls out the dough for her Israeli sufganiyot (jelly doughnuts), she describes one of the ways she and her husband connect despite their different cultural backgrounds.

During the eight-day festival, fried foods are not only acceptable, but encouraged. Southern McGreger laughs remember when she learned about the importance of fried foods during Hanukkah, "a holiday around fried foods? I can do that."

While he grew up in an assimilated Jewish household, Blank says Hanukkah was an important holiday in his home, even if it was the materialistic cousin of Christmas, involving rich food, dreidels and gifts.

"Being Jewish was a part of my identity and childhood," he said. "But for my family, who grew up in the '50s and '60s, they believed in America and didn't want to be identified with their ethnicity so much as being a part of the America dream, the melting pot."

Blank moved to North Carolina 15 years ago, and says traditions like food and music are ways of reconnecting with one's history. He plays tenor banjo and accordion and started the Klezmer band Gmish almost two years ago. Klezmer music began in the 15th century as secular music for weddings and celebrations often played by those on society's fringes.

Searching to bring broaden tradition, McGreger tested various jelly doughnut recipes, before finding the Israeli sufganiyot to add to her Hanukkah latkes (potato pancakes) and applesauce.

Gmish fiddle player Leah Schinasi grew up in a Jewish home in Greenville, where doughnuts were a holiday treat.

"I was always very excited for Hanukkah because it meant that we got to eat doughnuts, which we normally did not eat," she said. "Being in the South, everyone would probably have preferred to have eaten Krispy Kreme doughnuts, but they weren't kosher (since they are cooked in lard), and were not allowed in the synagogue."

Schinasi says the band's celebration of Hanukkah dispels the isolation that can come with a holiday that is overshadowed by Christmas.

"What was challenging about growing up Jewish in a relatively small Southern town was dealing with that feeling of being an outsider, of being different from my friends, and that feeling intensified during the winter holiday season," she said.

Bringing together friends of different faiths and cultures, McGreger and Blank use Hanukkah to create their own community, celebrate Jewish traditions, and share with others who celebrate differently.

For McGreger, that's the real purpose of food: "It's the quickest way to bring people together and absorb aspects of another culture."