I was born into and brought up in a culture based on Christian morals and ethics. But I’m always mindful that many of my readers may not share that heritage. I’ve endeavored throughout the past year to showcase recipes and culinary traditions from many countries and cultures, and I’ll continue to do so in 2018…
The culinary connection…
Did you know that Santa Claus didn’t always look like the big, round, jolly fellow
pictured above? Various European countries have had Santa traditions throughout the years,
but some picture him as a tall, gaunt figure, while others think of him as a stubby, stern fellow. The Santa we know only came into being in 1931, when Coca-Cola commissioned Michigan-
born illustrator Haddon Sundblom to develop advertising images using ‘Santa Claus’.
Before that, most North Americans thought of Santa as the ‘sprightly old elf’ of
Clement Moore’s A Visit From St. Nicholas, more commonly known as
T’was The Night Before Christmas…
In honour of the year-end holiday I celebrate…
I’m taking the day off – more or less. But I would like to share the following photo of a display of scumptious Hanukah Doughnuts from an Israeli bakery just around the corner from the home of my writing circle colleague, Lori Kaufmann…
Lori explains: “We eat fried foods (doughnuts, and potato pancakes) to celebrate the miracle of the oil lasting eight nights. In Israel, the bakeries try to outdo each other with gourmet doughnuts – alcohol filled, gold sprinkles. It’s wild, but a bit too fattening!”
Doughnut is ‘soofganiyot’ in Hebrew. That’s a mouthful!
The soofganiyots pictured above are Creme filled, Chocolate dipped and Caramel topped. Raspberry Jelly and Pistachio-Vanilla creme are also popular fillings. I’ve never seen anything like them this side of the Atlantic…
So… Happy Christmas, Hanukah, Kwanzaa, Diwali, Festivus… I’ll be posting all week, culminating in my New Year’s outlook!
Cheers!
~ Maggie J.