What are specific dishes associated with religious holidays and/or rituals?

October 28, 2008 1:26 PM

Can you help me make a list of specific dishes associated with religious holidays or rituals? (Example: challah bread on Shabbat; eel for Italians on Christmas Eve.) The more diverse the religions and dishes the better. Thanks!
posted by adrober to food & drink (31 comments total)

The Czechs make a lamb shaped cake at Easter.
posted by piratebowling at 1:37 PM on October 28, 2008

Well for (Ashkenzi) Judaism

Shabbat: Cholent
Rosh Hashana: Apples and honey, round challah with raisins
Pesach: Matzah, charoset, egg in salt water
Purim: Hamentashen
Channukah: Potato latkes
Shavuot: Dairy products
posted by PenDevil at 1:37 PM on October 28, 2008 [1 favorite]

and... uh... alcohol on Simchat Torah and Purim.
posted by PenDevil at 1:40 PM on October 28, 2008

My Czech family has fried fish and potato salad every Christmas Eve. Yum!
posted by amarynth at 1:42 PM on October 28, 2008

Also Chanukkah - sufganiot
posted by Sophie1 at 1:45 PM on October 28, 2008

Oplatek for Poles on Christmas Eve.
posted by Green Eyed Monster at 1:46 PM on October 28, 2008

Grapes (specifically twelve for each person) for the Spanish on New Year's Eve.
posted by ob at 1:51 PM on October 28, 2008

Are we talking foods with religious significance, or just foods served at specific holidays?
posted by LN at 1:55 PM on October 28, 2008

Hot Cross Buns at Easter in the UK.
Pancakes on Shrove Tuesday in the UK. That is the day immediately before lent, and the idea is to use up all the rich ingredients like sugar and eggs ready for the lent fast.
posted by Joh at 1:58 PM on October 28, 2008

Symbolic Meaning of Traditional Rosh Hashanah Food

Round Challah
The round shape symbolizes a perfect year to come. Sometimes raisins or honey are added to make it extra sweet.

Apples and Honey
We dip the apples in honey to symbolize our wish for a sweet year to come.

Head of Fish or Gefilte ("filled") Fish
Fish is an ancient symbol of fertility and abundance. The head of fish symbolizes the head of the New Year. The head also symbolizes our hope that the Jewish people will lead other nations through their righteous acts.

Head of Lamb, Sweet Chicken or Meat Dish
Head of lamb symbolizes our hope that the Jewish people will lead other nations through their righteousness. The sweet entree symbolizes our wish for a sweet year.

Tzimmes
Tzimmes is an eastern European recipe for honey baked carrots. The Yiddish word "meren" means carrots and to increase. Carrots symbolize our hope that we increase our good deeds in the coming year. Some tzimmes recipes add prunes, sweet potatoes or even meat to the sweet carrots.

Spinach
Spinach symbolizes a green year with plenty of produce.

Rice
Rice symbolizes abundance.

Honey Cake or Teiglach (crunchy dough boiled in honey)
"This day is holy to God, your God; do not mourn and do not weep...for the joy of God is your strength." (Nechemiah 8:9-10). It is said that the Prophet Nechemiah introduced to the ancient Israelites the Persian custom of eating sweet foods to celebrate the New Year.

source of info
posted by watercarrier at 1:59 PM on October 28, 2008

On Tisha B'Av
Before the fast boiled eggs with bread dipped in ash in commemoration of the destruction of the Temple. This is known as mourners meals.
posted by watercarrier at 2:02 PM on October 28, 2008

The Feast of Seven Fishes on Christmas Eve is more than just eel - the seven is for the sacraments (or the days of Creation, or the number of perfection) and fish is chosen because of the whole holy day abstention from meat and milk thing. It's usually really elaborate, with at least seven kinds of seafood (baccala, fried or stuffed squid, a whole cooked fish, oysters, pasta with a shellfish sauce, etc.)
posted by peachfuzz at 2:23 PM on October 28, 2008

- here's a long list of Christmas dishes

- Mooncakes for the Mid-Autumn Festival

- Pancakes for Candlemas

- Easter Cakes in Catalonia

- Soul Cakes on Halloween & All Souls Day

- Osechi-ryori for New Year's

- Ganesh really likes Modak, so it gets served alot during his festival

- folks eat alot of different things for Iftar

- and don't forget leek soup on St. Tavy's Day
posted by jammy at 3:34 PM on October 28, 2008

Christmas pudding in Britain. Candy canes, gingerbread men or houses, ribbon candy in the U.S.

There's a whole lot of traditional Easter dishes... I think lots of different European traditions do a cheesecake-pie like the Ukranian syrnyk. Peeps in the U.S.

In the U.S., basically anything Irish goes for St. Patrick's Day.

I guess there are all sorts of regional special dishes in India for Diwali, though the only one I know for sure is ghughra.
posted by XMLicious at 3:37 PM on October 28, 2008

Zongzi at Duanwu Festival time.
posted by Abiezer at 4:00 PM on October 28, 2008

My dad recalls being tormented at Christmas by his grandmother's lutefisk .
posted by scody at 4:11 PM on October 28, 2008

Not traditional in the sense you may be looking for, but there's the Jews-eating-Chinese-food-on-Christmas thing. I believe it originated in New York, where Chinese restaurants are the only thing open on Christmas, but my family definitely observes it every year, and we're in the hinterlands.
posted by coppermoss at 4:50 PM on October 28, 2008

Oplatky for Slovakia.
posted by plinth at 5:17 PM on October 28, 2008

Sidenote on oplatek for catholic poles on christmas eve (iirc catholic poles are supposed to eat fish too but that might just be because its a fast day?), you don't just eat it. Everyone gets a piece of the wafery bread, and you hold yours out to each member of your family and they break off a piece of yours, wish you well, and give you a kiss, and you do the same. You keep doing this until everyone has eaten a piece of everyone else's bread and kissed each other. About ten minutes into this, the old people start to cry, and the teenagers get so embarrassed that they can't make eye contact with anyone. The little kids are just excited to be able to inspect the ever-mysterious communion wafer in what appears to be a gigantic form. Its more of a ritual than a dish.
posted by jeb at 5:18 PM on October 28, 2008

Some Italians do 12 fish dishes on Christmas eve (# of apostles)... I actually thought this was the norm, but apparently not! more food references here
posted by NikitaNikita at 5:35 PM on October 28, 2008

Tamales on Christmas. I think it's just Mexicans who have them but it could be other Hispanics as well.
posted by nooneyouknow at 5:42 PM on October 28, 2008

Oh, and some other religious/holiday foods I can think of include:

King Cake

Greek (and others') easter bread: link
posted by NikitaNikita at 5:45 PM on October 28, 2008

Latvia: carraway cheese for midsummer (pagan festival rebranded as St John's day). Gingerbread cookies for xmas.
posted by UbuRoivas at 6:03 PM on October 28, 2008

Ukrainian twelve meatless dishes for christmas eve
posted by canoehead at 6:03 PM on October 28, 2008

Thanks everyone; these are great.
posted by adrober at 6:13 PM on October 28, 2008

New Years Day (plus the extended holiday to Jan 3rd) is a big food fest for Japanese with a very elaborate bento made up. Some families cook in the days before to prepare (my mom pretty much started cooking right after Christmas), others order their Osechi ryori premade from a store. The ingredients/dishes have specific meanings representing wishes for happiness, longevity, fertility etc for the coming year. The dishes are all intended to keep w/o refrigeration and are offered at open houses where you share your hospitality to friends and family.

There's also the day-long activity of pounding rice into mochi (sticky rice cakes), both for eating and making the Kagami mochi, which is displayed as a New Years decoration and eaten during the second weekend in January.

I married into a Mexican family and now instead of pounding rice at New Years, I help make tamales.
posted by jamaro at 6:13 PM on October 28, 2008

Muslims break their fasts with dates in Ramadhan. And for Southeast-Asian Muslims (Indian, Pakistani, etc.) sheer khurma is traditional for Eid ul Fitr and Eid ul Adha [the two Islamic holidays]. Also, Biryani is traditionally served at special occasions like weddings and holidays in SEAsia.
posted by asras at 7:26 PM on October 28, 2008

Boiled dinner and sodabread (raisins *and* caraway, pls) on St. Patrick's day in the US.

Rosquillas for the May 15th holiday in Madrid, for its patron saint, San Isidro

Panellets for All Saints Day in Catalunya
posted by Stewriffic at 8:22 PM on October 28, 2008

On Christmas, the Japanese eat Christmas Cake. Japanese are also shocked that this is a Japan-only tradition.
posted by zardoz at 9:18 PM on October 28, 2008

Most Romanians, Romanian Orthodox or not, eat loads of sarmale (cabbage leaves stuffed with meat and rice) around Christmas time. (And unlike many other Orthodox sects, Romanian Orthodox celebrate Christmas on December 25th.)

In Bosnia, on Bajram, the end of the month of fasting in Islam, there's a big feast and many dishes are served, but it wouldn't be Bajram without lamb roasted on a spit. The "other" dishes include many favorites which were imported from neighboring countries or during the times that Bosnia was under Ottoman control. So we have stuffed grape leaves, baklava, meat stews, stuffed peppers, many rice dishes, and so on. Also, a lot of homemade "brandy," which is (of course) against the strict tenets of Islamic scripture . . . but in case you haven't noticed, there's as much variation in Islam as in Christianity, and Bosnians are among the more liberal adherents.
posted by Dee Xtrovert at 5:08 AM on October 29, 2008

More cultural than strictly religious, but pan de muerto for Day of the Dead/All Souls' Day in Mexico.
posted by Katherine Kimber at 6:54 PM on October 30, 2008