Beginning with Thanksgiving and continuing to Christmas
and New Year’s Day celebrations, food remains a constant topic of discussion. It seems appropriate, then, to explore food
traditions during the holiday season.
Why do we serve turkey during the holidays? In Minnesota, why is lutefisk a tradition in
so many households? Whatever happened to
the traditional Christmas goose?
A quick search of the internet provides some leads to
the important question of why these foods are served on the holidays.
Lutefisk, white fish soaked in lye, is long a
tradition of Norwegian foodways. My
favorite explanation of the importance of lutefisk suggests the fish reinforce
the traditional image of the sturdy, strong Norwegian immigrants. One story claims Irishmen in an effort to
drive off invading Norsemen tried to poison a supply of dried white fish by
pouring lye over a barrel of the fish. By
the time the poison was discovered, starving Norwegians had no choice but to
wash the lye from the fish and eat. Our
hearty Norwegian ancestors discovered the fish were not spoiled and actually
were palatable. From that point on, to
prove their heartiness and to memorialize the strength of their ancestors,
Norwegians served lye soaked white fish, lutefisk, during the cold winter
months are around Christmas. And, tradition
as born.
The story of lutefisk may be apocryphal, the
traditions around turkey and the Christmas goose also remain steeped in vague
and far-fetched lore. Most food historians
agree, Pilgrims did not serve Turkey at the first Thanksgiving. In all likelihood, turkey as the center of
Thanksgiving feasts emerged from the imagination of New England author Sarah
Josepha Hale. During the Civil War, as
part of her campaign to make Thanksgiving a national holiday, Sarah Hale described
the ideal Thanksgiving banquet with turkey as the centerpiece.
Pragmatists may also favor turkey at Thanksgiving. Unlike chickens or cattle, turkeys on a farm
have limited utilitarian value. Chickens
provide eggs. Cows produce milk. Turkeys provide less produce on a farm. In addition, the bird will feed a large
family.
Like turkeys, the end of the Christmas Goose tradition
can be traced back to the influences of literature in 19th Century
Britain and the United States. According
to Slate magazine, and other internet sources, the concept of a turkey as a
holiday necessity gained prominence after the publication in 1832 of Charles
Dickens A Christmas Carol. At the end of this story (spoiler alert!)
Scrooge sends the Cratchit family a Christmas turkey to replace the Christmas
goose they have planned. Dickens, intentionally
or not, suggested a Christmas goose symbolized a poor man’s dinner. Goose was served only when a family could not
afford the more exotic and expensive Christmas turkey.
There we go.
Food traditions during the holidays reinforce a folklore and cultural
practices beyond a celebration of thanksgiving and overindulgence. Exploring the folklore and food traditions of
our ancestors provides enlightening understanding of holidays past. Now we have an opportunity to closely consider
the traditions behind the foods we eat during the holidays.
