15 Easter foods you haven't heard of
2018. 03. 26.
As Easter approaches, we are all planning the Easter menu. We looked around a bit among the traditional Easter dishes of other countries.
Simnel cake
This fruit gateau is the dessert for Easter Sunday lunch in Great Britain and Ireland. The cake is filled with marzipan and covered. The top of the cake is decorated with 11 or 12 marzipan balls, which represent the 11 apostles without Judas or the 11 apostles and Jesus.
Mämmi
Finland's Easter sweets are a true historical tradition: they were first mentioned in writing in the 16th century. Mämmi is most similar to pudding. It must be prepared days before consumption. It is baked from rye flour, rye malt, water, molasses and Seville orange peel. It is served with milk, sugar or vanilla sauce.
White borscht
In Poland, white borscht is popular during the Easter holidays, and is mostly eaten on Easter Sunday. It is traditionally made from the ingredients that are taken to the church in a basket the day before for a blessing. Each ingredient also has a religious meaning: bacon (abundance), bread (Jesus), butter (end of Lent, redemption), cheese (moderation), boiled egg (new life), ham and sausage (the abundance of the resurrection feast), horseradish (the bitterness of suffering and the sour wine that Jesus received), salt (protects from temptation).
Tsoureki
Tsoureki is a traditional Easter dish in Greece, but it is also popular in other countries of the region: it is also popular in Romania, Bulgaria, Turkey, Armenia, and Azerbaijan. The dough, similar to our cake, but is flavored with cherry aroma and pistachio. They make a triple braid from the dough, in honor of the Holy Trinity. It is often shaped into a circle and three red eggs are fried inside.
Pastiera napoletana
The ancestor of this pie-like sweet was already eaten in ancient Rome at the spring festival and at weddings. At Easter, it is filled with ricotta flavored with orange blossom water.
Paskha
It is a common Easter dish in Russia and Ukraine. It is made from cottage cheese in the week before Easter, which is taken to church on Saturday for a blessing. It is shaped like a truncated pyramid and decorated with the Cyrillic letters XB, which stands for "Jesus is Risen".
Gateau pascualina
A dish of Spanish origin, which is a popular Easter dish in Argentina and Uruguay. The savory pasta is filled with ricotta, hard-boiled eggs, artichokes and parsley. Since it does not contain meat, it is often eaten during fasting.
Capirotada
In Mexico, this dish is really common during fasting and part of the Good Friday dinner. Toasted bread is soaked in brown sugar syrup and flavored with cloves and cinnamon. Cheese, seeds (hazelnuts, pecans, almonds, pine nuts) and dried fruit (apples, dates, raisins) are also added during assembly. This food also has a strong religious meaning: the bread symbolizes Jesus' body, the syrup his blood, the cinnamon the cross, the cloves the nails, and the melted cheese the shroud.
Pinca
The sweet bread, also known as sirnica, is mainly eaten in Croatia and Slovenia, but it is also enjoyed on Easter in several coastal areas of the Adriatic Sea. The dough, made with eggs, butter, and milk, is often flavored with lemon, orange, raisins, and other fruits, as well as rum or marsala wine, or rose water.
Cod patty
A traditional dish in the countries of the Caribbean and Bermuda is a patty made from boiled potatoes, cod and eggs. It is often eaten with hot cross buns known from Anglo-Saxon cuisine.
Ma'amoul
A popular sweet in the Middle East. A cookie filled with dates, pistachios, almonds and other seeds, which the Christian communities of the region eat on Easter Sunday. The dough is shaped using a wooden mold made for the occasion, giving the finished cake a special shape that symbolizes the crown of Jesus.
Rosquillas
This cake is known all over Spain and the south of France. Originally from Catalan cuisine, its name means "little wheel". The dough is made without yeast and baking powder, with fatty milk and alcohol. The donuts are fried in hot oil and freshly rolled in sugar.
Fanesca
This soup is a traditional Ecuadorian dish, based on different types of beans and dried cod. Every family has its own recipe, but there are a few ingredients that are usually found in all of them: beans, pumpkin, corn, rice. garlic, milk. Usually 12 types of beans are used, representing the apostles, while cod is a symbol of Jesus.
Colomba di Pasqua
Italy's traditional Easter dessert. It is baked in the shape of a pigeon, hence the name. The top of the cake is sprinkled with sugar and almonds.
Flaouna
The traditional Easter cake of Cyprus: filled with a cheese mixture. The filling is usually made from halum or feta cheeses and flavored with mint, raisins and sesame seeds. In many places, it is also eaten during the last week of Lent, but it is traditionally prepared by the family together on Good Friday and eaten instead of bread on Easter Sunday. The interesting thing about the cake is that it is not only popular among Cypriot Christians: it is eaten during Ramadan on the Turkish side of the island.
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