’ Tis the season to remember food traditions — forget abs
Standing in the checkout line of my local grocery shop, I do my best to get into the Christmas spirit.
Chintzy speakers blast a mishmash of holiday tunes, from the whimsical to the spiritual, to the trite.
I avert my eyes from the newspapers headlines; distinctly not jolly.
The casting away of my eyes causes me to have to look in the other direction where I am bombarded by a host of magazines, all bedazzled with Christmas ‘ stuff.’ I say a little prayer of thanks that the decadeslong monopoly of Brangelina headlines has finally ebbed.
And then I look more closely. Every single cover has something to do with holiday food and nearly every one is touting ‘ low- fat Christmas’ or ‘ how to eat healthy this holiday season’ or ‘ look hot this holiday.’ I’m no Grinch and I have the utmost respect for people taking care of their bodies and being healthful, but for the love of the season — sometimes there is something deeper we need from food than toned abs.
For me, holiday food needs to rekindle fond memories of past Christmases, days of our childhood, days of family. In food we have a very powerful memory portal and this deeper connection, more than simply body fuel is what food can provide. It is something I like to call healthy brain eating. After all, happy memories can do more for us than trying to eat trans fat- free Christmas pudding with non- fat hard sauce.
I’m sure I have mentioned it in these posts before, but my mom hated cooking and we certainly did not have a household brimming with the scents of the season. There were never any years in my upbringing when the oven was used for baked goods, unless it was Saturday morning muffins out of a packet that my sister and I baked after swim team practice.
But, luckily for my family, my grandmother was a very passionate and skilled cook whose pastry acumen would make Martha Stewart blush. And when a big brown box arrived all wrapped in brown paper from London, Ont., to our P. E. I. home, Christmas would begin in earnest. Almond crescents, peanut butter and mini marshmallow squares, date squares, Linzer thumbprint cookies, gingerbreads as well as the absolute world’s best shortbreads — the recipe straight from the back of the cornstarch box upon which a rooster is prominently displayed, rolled thin to the point of melting and garnished with a tiny sliver of green and red maraschino cherries.
There would also be, what I now know, an absolutely rum- laden fruitcake with the requisite hard and soft sauces for Christmas night. Any one of the above mentioned sweets can literally transport me to my childhood. Powerful stuff.
I also have fond food memories centred on what my family did on Christmas Eve, which was to invite several families to our home after church on the eve for a carol sing. My mom ( the same lady who hated the kitchen) knew how to throw a good party and she would have the table laden with quiche Lorraine, tourtiere, nice cheese, salads, crusty rolls and more of her mom’s sweets. There would also be boozy eggnog — she didn’t ever do the ‘ adult nog/ kid’s nog’ thing. Maybe that’s why we were able to sleep on Santa’s night? Even writing the name of these foodstuffs transports me to 1978, standing in my family dining room, getting a bellyache from too much dairy. Heaven!
So, whatever your food traditions from Christmases past, dredge them up this year and you will be sure to get right back to the good old days via this powerful food memory portal. Tight abs can wait until January, me thinks.
— Ross Midgley moved from P. E. I. to Niagara in 1999. Since then he has held the lead position in several of the region’s top kitchens.
He is passionate about his family, all things Niagara and good rock ’ n’ roll. He can be reached at chefrmidgley1968@gmail.com.