What do potato pancakes represent to Jacob in the novel, Jacob the Liar?

Jacob’s potato pancakes represent the world as it used to be. Before the war began, Jacob’s main worry was how he would afford the potatoes needed to make his potato pancakes. Now that he is stuck in the ghetto he has much larger worries. Whenever they are referenced, it shows the difference between the small struggle of day-to-day life versus the constant existential risk of living in the ghetto.