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keesan
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Festive foods
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Oct 21 22:28 UTC 2000 |
What sorts of special foods do you eat on special occasions such as religious
or secular holidays, important moments in the life cycle (birth, graduation,
bar mitzvah), or other special moments? Are any of these foods seasonal?
Which of them are generally eaten in your country, and which are specific to
particular ethnic groups (such as macaroni and cheese for Thanksgiving among
American blacks, or potato pancakes for Hanukkah among American Jews)? Are
there any special foods which have only started to be eaten in this century?
(Pumpkin pies have a long history as custard tarts, for instance). I would
be really interested to hear from grexers who do not live in the United
States and/or are members of ethnic/racial minorities.
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| 51 responses total. |
beeswing
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response 1 of 51:
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Oct 22 04:55 UTC 2000 |
I can't think of any specific festive food. I do know I like to curl up
with cookies when I've had a particularly bad day.
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senna
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response 2 of 51:
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Oct 22 05:37 UTC 2000 |
I served hamburgers and hotdogs today before the game. And one hard-to-thaw
chicken breast.
Other than that, the only real event-specific food I eat is at thanksgiving.
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birdy
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response 3 of 51:
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Oct 22 07:31 UTC 2000 |
Turkey at Thanksgiving, ham and chicken at Christmas (I and my brother's
fiancee hate ham), our favorite food/restaurant on our birthday, and different
German/Polish foods on Easter. Oh, and paczki for pre-Lent stuff. =) It's
Busia's recipe and the only one I'll eat.
There is also a cookie we eat at Christmas that is Polish...it's pronounced
krish-TEE-kees, and I think it's spelled Crszystyckis. It's basically fried
dough that's really light and crispy and covered with powdered sugar.
Americans call them "angel wings".
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ric
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response 4 of 51:
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Oct 22 14:50 UTC 2000 |
At christmas time, we always have honey baked ham. Mmmm...
Another christmastime tradition - peanut brittle.
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keesan
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response 5 of 51:
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Oct 22 16:37 UTC 2000 |
So far this all sounds like it could have been eaten five hundred years ago,
except for the peanut brittle. Meat cooked with sugar (honey baked ham)
was very common in medieval times, also stuffed birds and pigs. Does
Halloween (once a religious holiday) have any specific foods other than candy
and apples?
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ric
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response 6 of 51:
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Oct 22 21:46 UTC 2000 |
Peanut Brittle has been around a long long long time... Perhaps not 500 years,
but it's a pretty simple recipe... sugar, corn syrup, vanilla, baking power,
and raw peanuts. (baking powder, I meant)
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keesan
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response 7 of 51:
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Oct 22 22:22 UTC 2000 |
Peanut brittle could not have been made in medieval Europe because peanuts
are native to the New World. Same for corn syrup and vanilla. The Arabs
introduced sugar cane quite early. Perhaps peanut brittle was modelled on
sesame candy?
Jim and I tried hard to come up with festive foods that include vegetables.
For American festive vegetable foods, we came up with pumpkin pie (custard
pie), sweet potato pie. Are there vegetables eaten on special occasions
without sugar added? For festive fruits we came up with fruit cake and
candied apples. Does this say something about American attitudes towards
fruit and vegetables?
Jewish festive foods include potato pancakes for Chanuka, which are
probably festive because they are very time consuming to make (as is fruit
cake and pie). Is wine a fruit? It is mandatory for sabbath and passover.
What is the name in English of the citrus fruit imported from Israel to
celebrate the new year (in the fall)?
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birdy
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response 8 of 51:
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Oct 22 23:49 UTC 2000 |
Halloween is still, and always has been, a religious holiday for Pagans. It's
also known as Samhain.
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edina
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response 9 of 51:
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Oct 23 02:27 UTC 2000 |
It's all about the green bean casserole and a jello salad, don't you think?
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brighn
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response 10 of 51:
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Oct 23 03:45 UTC 2000 |
Technically, Halloween is a religious holiday for Catholics, too, being a lead
in to All Saint's Day (Nov. 1). And I'd argue that it a holiday from the
stance of being an anti-holiday for many Fundamentalist Christians, who see
it as the Devil's day.
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gelinas
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response 11 of 51:
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Oct 23 05:11 UTC 2000 |
Ever'one seems to forget "All Hallows Eve", since it has been shortened to
"Hallowe'en" and the apostrophe dropped.
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jep
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response 12 of 51:
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Oct 23 14:47 UTC 2000 |
We often, but not always, have corned beef and cabbage for St. Patrick's
Day. Same for ham on Easter. We almost always have a big dinner, with
a turkey as the main course, for Thanksgiving. My brother in law makes
steak on the grill for Christmas dinner. We all sit around and snack on
New Year's Day, watching football games and playing cards. The kids and
I make pancakes for my wife on Mother's Day.
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rcurl
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response 13 of 51:
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Oct 23 18:19 UTC 2000 |
Turkey at Thanksgiving.
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keesan
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response 14 of 51:
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Oct 23 18:49 UTC 2000 |
I think this is because a whole turkey is too large for anything but a large
crowd. Same for goose, or carp (the New Year's dish in many countries) or
suckling pig (which people ate for New Year in Belgrade, and took to the local
baker to bake).
Other festive fruits? Cranberry sauce (again, with sugar).
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rcurl
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response 15 of 51:
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Oct 23 23:15 UTC 2000 |
Our little family of three always had turkey - there are smaller turkeys,
you know. And leftovers ... and leftovers ... and leftovers ... and ...
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birdy
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response 16 of 51:
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Oct 23 23:17 UTC 2000 |
Brighn - Catholics refer to it as All Souls Day, though, which is the
"non-Satanic" version of Hallowe'en. ;-)
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albaugh
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response 17 of 51:
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Oct 23 23:28 UTC 2000 |
Technically: Halloween = "All hallows eve" = "day before all saints (hallows)
day" = October 31. All saints day = November 1, All souls day = Nov. 2.
Verify it vai http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/a.htm
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glenda
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response 18 of 51:
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Oct 23 23:35 UTC 2000 |
Our family of four does a whole turkey for Thanksgiving (10-14 lbs). With
teenagers in the house leftovers rarely last past Saturday.
When we do Thanksgiving with my whole family we usually have to do a couple
of birds to feed everyone and usually there are few if any leftovers.
Christmas is usually with my family and we have a large turky and a large ham
with all the trimmings: potatoes, yams, 2-3 veggies, a relish tray (olives,
pickles, carrot and celery sticks, candied apple rings), 3-4 different types
of bread, cookies, candies, pies or cakes. Also with few leftovers. (I am
the oldest of six kids, five of us are/have been married and have at least
two kids apiece, and some of the kids have started to pair off. Add my
parents and my grandmother and we have a small convention. If we went really
old fashioned and added Mom's and Grandmother's siblings and families we would
have to rent a hall. Stopped that about 10-12 years ago cause it got to be
way too much. STeve's first Christmas with us was a hoot. He's an only child
and there was only him and his mom, our gathering that year was about 35.)
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birdy
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response 19 of 51:
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Oct 23 23:46 UTC 2000 |
Re #17 - oops...my mommy was wrong, or I remembered it incorrectly. I'll
guess that I was wrong since she teaches CCD. ;-)
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ric
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response 20 of 51:
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Oct 24 00:03 UTC 2000 |
Cornish hen's make good substitutes for turkey when cooking for 2 or 3 :)
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scott
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response 21 of 51:
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Oct 24 00:57 UTC 2000 |
Turkey for Thanksgiving might have come from hunting turkeys in the fall, when
mating season makes them rather careless. Same thing works for deer, too.
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mcnally
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response 22 of 51:
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Oct 24 01:53 UTC 2000 |
Turkeys mate in the fall? That's weird..
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edina
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response 23 of 51:
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Oct 24 03:35 UTC 2000 |
Ok - I just want to go on record as saying that teh Irish don't eat Corned
beef and cabbage. They tend to eat bacon with cabbage, which is more like
ham. So it's boiled ham an cabbage.
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klg
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response 24 of 51:
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Oct 24 03:36 UTC 2000 |
"What is the name in English of the citrus fruit imported from Israel to
celebrate the new year (in the fall)?" It is "citron", but the holiday
is Sukkot (Fest. of Booths), not the new yr. And it is used in cere-
mony, not as a food - but I tasted an excellent citron liqueur Sunday.
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