Holiday Feast

Holidays…. everyone’s favorite time of the year. Christmas, Chanukah, Thanksgiving, Saint Patricks Day. In my family everyone comes together for these festivites and celebrate the mass amounts of food and drink we eat, but what about the food. Why do we eat what we do on these days? Why is it necessary for us to eat turkey on thanksgiving or ham on Christmas. Next time you’re at a holiday dinner pause before biting into that delicious meal of yours and think about the real question…why?

Christmas; probably one of the most known holidays in the united states. Most people tie christmas with candy canes, while you might just suck on one of these delicious treats know that there is a meaning behind it. A german choirmaster first produced the candy so choir children would stay quiet during the sermon, he then asked if they could be bent to resemble a shepard’s crook like in the bible or it is thought that when you flip the candy cane over it is a J, representing Jesus as well. Giving it a biblical meaning to the sweet treat as well. The red is thought to symbolise Jesus’s blood and the white resembles the purity Jesus had in his heart. Nowadays people have strayed from the originals and started creating all sorts of different flavors of candy canes and different colors. While it seems that the original will never lose popularity the new ones are coming in hot. TheDailyMeal.com uploaded a post about the newest flavors raging from bacon flavored to wasabi. Onto a main dish, Ham. It is the oldest dish on the block, given its roots go all the way back to ancient pagan rituals, sacrificing a wild boar to a norse God. Now when the pagans were converted to Christianity they brought the tradition with them. You might see the dish with some pineapples or cherries on it. Or deep friend and enjoyed with a nice rub. From baked to country ham the possibilities are endless with recipes. TheRelectantGourment describes in detail how many different ways you can truly make a ham to fit you and your family.

Chanukah; known as the festival of lights, stands for the miracle that when the Greeks destroyed the temple, the maccabees went to the temple to go and try to restore it and lit a candle with oil which was only supposed to last for one day but lasted for 8 days and nights. Hence why people celebrate 8 days of it. My family and me being jewish, this holiday is huge for us. The first night of Chanukah is a huge feast and celebration. There are many different food are eaten on this holiday but the main staple foods are latkes; shredded potato pancakes fried in oil symbolizing the miracle which happened to the maccabees. The latke making is shared with generations in family, I was taught to make a latke at ten with my grandma and it was such a special memory for me to have. The staple ingredients in latkes are potatoes, onions, eggs, oil and salt. Jamie Keller host of Joy of Kosher on Youtube has an incredible recipe for Latkes, as well as other staple foods in the jewish culture. Usually dipped in apple sauce or dolloped with sour cream. Going on to the meats….brisket. It is the main meat or entree for basically every jewish holiday. We eat this because one it is delicious and two because it’s cheap. When Jewish immigrants came over from eastern europe they were poor. They had to eat the tougher meats, that had to be slowly cooked for hours while adding a sauce. My family uses a barbecue sauce and throws in a couple carrots and celery. The one thing I miss about home is the brisket.

Thanksgiving; the feast of the pilgrims. the normal turkey, stuffing, mashed potatos but why are these the traditional foods for this holiday? The colonists had hunted wild turkey and sometimes ate it for important meals. It became the bird of the hour. They are large enough to feed a whole family and more as well as it is an somewhat easy thing to make.Turkeys now a days are cooked in insane ways. You can now deep fry a turkey, which Allrecipes.com has an amazing recipe for. You can also make a Turducken, a chicken in a duck in a turkey. Or you can stick to the traditional basting and cooking Turkey. Next to turkey you need stuffing… Now while over centuries the recipes and actually stuffing has adapted. It got started when the pilgrims would stuff fowls with onions and herbs. Now while the pilgrims back then did not have cranberry sauce or pumpkin pie, we have adopted those throughout the years. Pumpkin Pie was a familiar dish back in England for many years, when arriving at Plymouth, colonist brought the dish or their spin on the dish due to what they had, and when expanding the world the dishes went with it, Pumpkin pie made itself on tables in america in the 19th century. To get a bigger picture of the idea of the thanksgiving feast Amanda Moniz wrote great article for The Washington Post.

Now Saint Patricks Day, while you might think its all about beer which in the most case it is their is a few dishes that are a staple for this green filled holiday. Corned beef and cabbage are the two most known dishes. From the middle ages the Irish were known for salted meats so of course corned beef came to. Now while it was hard to come by in Ireland and considered a luxury so most people had ham but when immigrants came into America they realized the price was so low everyone could be a king for a day. They had original had pork or bacon but considering the budget they were on they resorted to beef. Corned came from the term because the meat was put in and then was covered with rock salt called corned salt, corned beef has a long line of history, The KitchenProject does an excellent job of explaining the history of it and ways to make it … therefore creating the name corned beef. Onto the cabbage, the Irish ate cabbage because it was cheap and anyone could afford it back in Ireland and it made its way to the dinner table too. It is a little reminder of what life used to be like. The two dishes are eaten together. Pair that dish with a nice beer and you’re on the right track to celebrating your St. Patricks day the right way.

Holidays are always a great time for the three F’s, food, fun, family at least that’s how it goes in my family. Regardless of what holiday you celebrate every dish has a deeper meaning so next time do a little research before scarfing down the dish in front of you. Once again happy eating!