Connect with your kids: Holiday Food for Thought

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While many families have their own unique holiday food traditions, there is something universal about leaving sugar cookies for Santa Claus on Christmas Eve and frying latkes for Hanukkah.  Or is there?

Recently, the James Beard Foundation blog, Delight & Prejudice, invited readers to test their holiday “eat-Q” with a holiday food quiz.  It turns out there is a lot more variety across cultures in traditional holiday foods  than you might think.  Hint: even the answers for Christmas and Hanukkah might surprise you.

Girls who enjoyed the stories of American Girl Kirsten Larson will tell you that on Saint Lucy’s Day in Sweden, the oldest daughter in each family will wake up before dawn and serve her family saffron buns, or lussekatter, while dressed in a white gown with a wreath of greenery and lit candles upon her head.

Any manga or anime fan will certainly know that in Japan, Christmas is typically associated with fried chicken and strawberry short cake. The reason behind the Kentucky fried season started about 40 years ago, during a time when it was difficult for foreigners in Japan to locate a traditional chicken or turkey for the holiday, making KFC the go to place for “traditional” holiday fare. For more information, check out this news story Good Morning America did on the phenomenon.

“Here We Come A-wassailing,” may be a Christmas carol, but did you know that the tradition of “wassailing,” or greeting neighbors with wassail, comes from pre-Christian winter solstice traditions?  While wassailing with the kids might be a fun new tradition to start, be sure to do so with apple cider rather than the traditional alcoholic wassail.

For more ideas on how you can spend quality family time with your kids, check out the Connect with your kids @ your library Family Activity Guide.
 

Photo credit: "abelskivers for christmas" By cafemama