Cooking For The Holidays

Each year begins and concludes with a celebration that’s foregrounded by gatherings with household and acquaintances, salutations and gift giving. At the core of these significant occasions are food and banqueting, the partaking of meals on the communal table, the picnic table, and the dinner table. The menu depends on the country, culture and time of year being observed.

New Year introduces the start while also wishing good bye to the year that has completed. People gather to toast the New Year with food and beverages, sometimes imparted with promising symbols of teemingness, great health and luck. While technically not kept at the beginning of the calendar year, the Chinese New Year typifies the celebrations and teemingness bade upon the New Year.

In the United States, the Super Bowl Sunday is a special occasion overloaded with bowls and platters of food. While the seasonal football event was first executed on January 15, 1967, the Super Bowl has been subsequently held in the early days of February. Buffalo wings, beer, and barbecues are just some of the celebratory food that librates the dining and living room tables of every American household.

Specific holidays for the people we love the most—our parents—are set aside for them. For Mother’s Day, May is the month of blooms, cakes and heirloom dishes that our mothers instructed us to make. For Father’s Day, endowments of shirt ties, socks, and other paternalistic gifts are imparted in June.

Easter, identified between March 22 and April 25, marks the end of the Holy Week in the Christian domain. To kids and kids at heart, it’s bright cupcakes, Easter eggs and carrot cakes galore. Come St. Patrick’s Day in March, the cupcakes go green and so are the tables loaded with traditionally made Irish food like corned beef and cabbage did with Irish ales, beers, and stouts.

Memorial Day rolls in on the last Monday of May, in memorial of the men and women who fought under the United States Armed Forces. A federal holiday, to revellers, it’s time to take out the grill for a merriment day with barbeques and other delights. The same barbecues also make an appearance when the American Fourth of July jubilations come in.

In adjacent Canada, July 1 is Canada Day, which stands for barbecues, burgers, and beers also for Canadians, aside from their conventional foods such as the poutine and butter tart.

Amidst all these banqueting, our Muslim brothers keep the Ramadan on the ninth month of the lunar calendar (approximately July or August). Fasting for the whole day is practiced in Islam but after the sun sets, homes and the whole community collect to partake in the Iftar dinner as a means to break the day’s fast.

The month of summer bring virtually different menus and recipes as well. Summer though depends on the nation, climate and cultural customs.

From November ahead, many lands and cultures have several banquets to celebrate too. From Halloween and Thanksgiving to Hanukkah, Diwali and Christmas.

Get recipe videos for holidays.