Many of us grew up with traditions we follow at holiday time. Time and location of family meals, when and how to open gifts, special activities such as caroling or church services, are some of the makings of holiday traditions.
In America, there are many different holiday traditions, as our “melting pot” culture has brought many nationalities and traditions together.
Feasting is a typical holiday tradition of every nation, and my family’s holiday food traditions are reflective of our melting pot of cultures, too. The Christmas eve buffet in my family includes Swedish potato sausage and ost kaka, a Swedish cheesecake dessert, borrowed from our Swedish neighbors in the Smoky Hill River valley between Salina and Lindsborg. My grandmother’s English heritage is reflected in the oyster stuffing, and my German aunt contributed dark brown bread and her delicious German potato salad made with dill pickles, green olives and tuna.
Why do we eat certain special foods at holiday time?
Roger Adams, a Kansas State University rare books librarian, has studied the history of traditional holiday foods, including the figgy pudding requested in “We Wish You a Merry Christmas,” the drink referred to in “Here We Come A-Wassailing,” the sugarplums that danced in children’s heads in “‘Twas the Night Before Christmas,” and the once-beloved but now much-maligned fruitcake- the “Rodney Dangerfield of the food world” that gets no respect.
Adams said the reason for the fruitcake’s devaluation in public opinion is because of the quality and type of ingredients that are used. Today’s recipe is nearly unrecognizable from the fruitcake of the past, said Adams, who can point to recipes found in cookbooks dating back to 1487 that are part of K-State Libraries’ Morse Department of Special Collections.
Fruitcake traces its origins to ancient Rome, where it included pine nuts, pomegranate seeds, and raisins in a barley mash. By the Middle Ages in Europe, additional dried fruits were added, as well as honey and spices.
The original fruitcake was thoroughly saturated with alcohol such as brandy or rum, which acts as a preservative to keep the ingredients from spoiling or getting rancid over time. Adams said this focus on preservation is consistent with most traditional Christmas foods, which came from the need in older times to preserve foods through the winter.
This trend is also seen in jam cookies and sugarplums – the latter of which were considered an ideal treat for children because they did not contain alcohol, unlike many other traditional Christmas foods. This is likely why they were connected to children in the 1823 poem, “‘Twas the Night Before Christmas.”
Mincemeat pie also was a preservation-focused holiday treat. Adams clarifies that the original pies did contain meat, as well as suet and dried fruits – especially raisins, which he said are a “must” in every mince pie.
The traditional puddings of England, including the figgy pudding we continue to sing about, were much different from the puddings that are popular in the U.S. today. The traditional puddings were more cakelike and often included raisins or other dried fruits – hence the figs in figgy pudding. These puddings were soaked in plenty of alcohol, usually rum. Families would gather during Advent and light the pudding cakes on fire to create a celebratory flaming dessert, like flambé.
Wassail, a warm Christmas punch, is a once-popular Christmas drink. Because of its warm serving temperature and its inclusion of alcohol, which warms the body, it was not uncommon in the U.S. as late as the 19th century to find people traveling around, visiting relatives and drinking wassail to stay warm.
Christmas is a good time to talk with older family members about the traditional holiday foods they ate when they were children. Dust off an old family or community cookbook and explore what past generations ate at Christmas. That will make holiday culinary traditions even more meaningful as family members continue to share them today.
Linda K. Beech is Ellis County Extension Agent for Family and Consumer Sciences.