Eatdrink #39 January/February 2013

70 www.eatdrink.ca
№ 39 | January/February 2013
the lighter side
A Global Calendar of Holiday Food
Byy Darin Cook
W
ith a flip of the calendar,
a fresh twelve months are
beckoning. The year will be
full of special feasts bringing
families and ethnic communities together
to honour certain days of the year. Here
is a brief look at some upcoming holidays
— some traditional, some religion-based,
some unusual, some not even on the Western
calendar, but all revolve around special
foods and beverages.
January 1 — New Year’s Day. Many of
us start the New Year with as much
champagne as we can throw down
our gullets, which immediately
goes to our heads, causing us to
make a plethora of unrealistic
resolutions. Champagne is
good at making resolutions;
humans are bad at keeping
them. And this is why, when
you do find yourself eating solid
food between gulps of champagne,
you should remember to eat some of the
good-luck foods of various cultures so you
can tip your destiny in the right direction.
Several European countries eat cooked
greens (kale, chard, cabbage, collards)
on New Year’s Day for the simple reason
that they look like folded bills of money,
symbolizing a year of financial success.
Lentils, beans, and black-eyed peas
are popular for a similar reason in the
southern United States — they resemble
coins.
February 10 — Chinese New
Year. This is the most important
date on the Chinese calendar,
and your favourite Chinese
restaurant will be serving
up some special dumplings
to celebrate. Dumplings
are the symbolic food of this
Chinese holiday because they
resemble ancient Chinese silver and
gold currency, so foreshadow a profitable
future. The greeting for this holiday —
Gung hay fat choi — means exactly that:
“May you have good fortune and riches,”
which is manifested through this symbolic
food choice.
February 12 — Shrove Tuesday. This is the
official name of the beginning of the Easter
season, but it is also known as Pancake
Tuesday. In Christian tradition, Lent
was originally treated as a forty-day fast,
but modern society has scaled it back by
abstaining from only certain indulgences.
Traditionally, pancakes were a practical
item because they used up the taboo
foods of eggs, butter and milk that
shouldn’t be lingering around
your kitchen during Lent to
tempt you. Pancake Tuesday is
one last hoorah with a favourite
comfort food, knowing that the
upcoming self-denial will be
challenging.
March 17 — St. Patrick’s Day. This
is just another excuse to drink as much
alcohol as possible, preferably pints of
Guinness or shots of whiskey. It usually
falls within the Lenten season, and
Catholic communities have traditionally
been torn. Alcohol is often given up for
Lent, so what a nasty trick to put this day,
when Guinness tastes so good, right in
a period of abstinence. But that hasn’t
stopped the Irish from taking a reprieve
from abstaining from any foods they may
have given up to celebrate their
patron saint with Irish stew, Irish
soda bread, and Shamrock salad.
August 28 — La Tomatina. This
interesting festival held in Bunol,
Spain is a celebration of tomatoes.
Many people visit Pamplona to
partake in the legendary running
with the bulls, but going to Bunol is
less dangerous and a lot messier. I have seen
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