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Foodways of Holidays
What better way to celebrate the holidays than with food? In this series, Folklife staff and collaborators share Christmas, Hanukkah, Thanksgiving, and other winter holiday recipes that are dear to their families and communities.
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Caviar and Escargots for Christmas: Family Folklore on a ForkIt wasn’t until I was a teenager that I realized nobody else I know partakes in this combination of delicacies on Christmas.
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German Christmas Spice Cookies: Baking Home Away from HomeAs the holidays approach, Franca is over 4,000 miles from home in Munich, Germany.
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Breaking Opłatek for New Year’s Wishes: My Journey to Reclaim a Polish Christmas ClassicThe wafer resembles communion bread in my childhood Catholic church, and it tastes like construction paper.
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For Good Luck on Orthodox Christmas: Serbian Česnica BreadIn many Slavic Christian traditions, the bread tells fortunes and predicts good luck and prosperity,
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Russian Caviar Sandwiches: The Salty Sign of Another Year Gone ByThe New Year’s Eve revelries of my mother’s Soviet childhood were notoriously grand affairs. New Year’s Eve in my post-Soviet, Midwestern household is decidedly not.
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Bela’s Baklava: A Taste of Home for the Assyrian DiasporaFor me, growing up as part of an immigrant diaspora has meant finding ways to connect to my culture beyond a physical space.
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Music and Foodways of Las Posadas in Pico Rivera: Pozole Rojo, Ponche Navideño, and Empanadas DulcesCelebrated annually from December 16 to 24, Las Posadas (“The Inns”) is a Catholic novena (nine-day long prayer) and festival.
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“Food of the Gods” for Ukrainian Christmas: Kutia and UzvarTraditionally, there should always be twelve meatless dishes served for svyata vecherya, or Christmas Eve dinner.
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There’s a Baby in My Cake! Luck of La Rosca de Reyes on Three Kings DayGrowing up in a Mexican American family, my fondest childhood memories always involve the Christmas season.
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Duel of the Seven-Layer Salads: A Midwestern Family InitiationSeven-layer salad, possibly rooted in the American South, has become a staple of home-cooked Midwestern cuisine.
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