Holiday foods hold some of our strongest memories

Radio-Canada specials51:30Create holiday memories

The foods we prepare and eat during the holidays can evoke some of our deepest memories, says Susan Whitbourne, professor of psychology at the University of Massachusetts.

“Looking into the brain, there is a deep connection between taste, smell, memory and emotion,” she said. And, you know, food isn’t just about eating, it’s about preparing.

Whitbourne said making food with beloved family elders can build intimacy and connection, and that’s why preparing these foods can make you feel “warm and tingly inside”.

Recreating family food rituals can even connect us to deceased loved ones.

“I think commemorating those experiences, even in the form of recipes, is really part of the calming nature of food,” Whitbourne said.

From Christmas pies to Hanukkah latkes to Chinese New Year dumplings, preparing and eating holiday food is a way to express love, honor family traditions and create lasting memories. Here are five stories of culinary traditions shared on the CBC Radio special Creating holiday memories through food.

Ron Mapp still enjoys eating the holiday foods his ancestors ate when they arrived in Amber Valley, Alberta in 1911. (Stefan Legacy)

First Foods of Alberta’s Early Black Settlers

Ron Mapp still operates the farm from his grandfather’s original farm in Amber Valley, Alberta. During the holidays, he always likes to eat the foods that his ancestors grew when they arrived.

They planted gardens, they had chickens… [they] hunted wild game, moose, deer, lots of fish,” Mapp said.

In 1911, Mapp’s great-grandfather, the Rev. Henry Sneed, led 194 African Americans from Oklahoma, Arkansas and Texas to the unincorporated area of ​​Amber Valley, about 160 kilometers north of Edmonton, in search of a life away from American segregation and violence.

Five months after arriving in Amber Valley, Prime Minister Wilfrid Laurier signed an executive order barring blacks from settling in Canada for a year, citing them as “unsuited to the climate and requirements of Canada.”

Still, Mapp’s ancestors thrived and formed a tight-knit community.

“My grandmother sometimes had 25 to 30 people over to her house for Christmas dinner. We had turkey with house dressing, sage stuffing. And you couldn’t wait for the meal to start because you knew the desserts were going to be great.” Awesome – a made from scratch apple pie with the smell of ice cream melting on it. “

“It made you hungry,” Mapp said.

Today, Mapp continues the tradition of holiday dining with his wife, children and grandchildren. Every year, her daughter cooks Thanksgiving dinner. For Christmas, they rotate, sometimes having dinner with his side of the family, sometimes with his wife’s German family.

And you can bet they always have apple pie and ice cream.

Barb Pardy says she stores berry jam, left, and bottled salmon, right, delivered to her from Labrador. She uses her preserves in her holiday pies. (Mary Catherine McIntosh/CBC)

Labrador Inuk Holiday Culinary Traditions

Barb Pardy is an Inuk mother and grandmother originally from Labrador who now lives in Dartmouth, Nova Scotia.

Every fall, she looks forward to receiving a shipment of traditional Inuit food from her home.

“Red fruit jam was a very big staple in our lives. And [this last jar], it’s getting pretty weak now. So until I get another supply, it’s like a bottle of gold,” Pardy said.

“A bottle of fresh Atlantic salmon could last a few years. I have two bottles. I’m just saving them for a rainy day.”

Pardy has fond memories of eating traditional Inuit foods growing up. Now, she does everything she can to carry on these traditions with her children and grandchildren, such as using bottled fish and berries in her homemade holiday pies.

“It’s just part of our culture, and it’s part of who I am,” she said.

At Christmas, we always had big family meals, it was always game meat, birds…. [We ate] pies made from berries we picked. I used to always get up and eat berry pie for breakfast on Christmas morning. And it’s just as exciting today. It’s a tradition I can’t give up.

Another tradition that Pardy likes to carry on is Fish Night. Between Christmas Day and New Year’s Day, she invites her family and friends to celebrate with a “smorgasbord” of fish.

Gail, left, and Peter Fraiberg, the sibling co-owners of Grumans Catering and Delicatessen in Calgary, love making their mother’s latke recipe and serving their families at Hanukkah. (Paul Karchut/CBC)

Hanukkah Latkes

Siblings Gail and Peter Fraiberg of Grumans Deli in Calgary can relate to throwing holiday parties with traditional dishes. During Hanukkah, they invite the family to play games, spin the top and eat latkes.

The smell of latkes lingering in the house after baking, for her as a child, Gail said, was “the greatest treat”.

“It’s beautiful, especially when you wear it over your clothes all day,” Peter said. And go to school, and all the dogs chased you home.

Deli owners say making their mother’s fried latke recipe at Hanukkah honors the Jewish tradition of cooking food in oil to remember the overnight miracle of oil – used to light the temple that the Jews had just recovered – for eight nights.

Shine Du shows off her homemade dumplings, a traditional Chinese New Year food made from her mother’s recipe. (Mykella Van Cooten/CBC)

chinese new year dumplings

For international student Shine Du, dumplings are the special dish that comes to mind when she thinks of staying home to celebrate Chinese New Year in Zhengzhou, China.

Du, who came to Toronto in 2021 to study radio and media at Humber College, said dumplings have traditionally been enjoyed primarily during China’s Spring Festival, a two-week celebration that culminates with Chinese New Year. Now, Chinese people can get dumplings all year round, Du said. But his parents are still known at home as dumpling specialists because they take dumpling making very seriously.

“My mum and dad cook together. They make a lot of dumplings. In the past, there weren’t many supermarkets open during the [two weeks of the] festival, so you had to prepare so many dishes,” said Du [would] Sit on the sofa and watch TV, and my dad and mom were just cooking in the kitchen or the dining room very close to me.

“I really miss the time we spent together,” Du said.

Natalie Preddie, left, says it’s not the holidays without mince pies. Here she is in the kitchen with her niece, Ella Doran. (Submitted by Natalie Preddie)

Minced meat because of the memories

For Natalie Preddie, it’s not vacation without ground meat pie.

The Métis travel writer grew up in Toronto with a British mother and a Jamaican father. Ground meat pies are a food she learned to love while spending Christmas with her grandparents in Sarnia, Ontario.

“When I was a kid, I thought they were disgusting. And I remember going to my grandmother’s house – my mother’s mother – and she would put them in the oven. And you could smell the spices – nutmeg , cloves,” Preddie said.

Over time, not only the smell – but the taste – developed on her.

“So, yeah, now they remind me of my grandmother. They remind me of warmth and family and fireplaces and comfort. So, you know, eating hash pie is… Family time. It’s the holidays. It’s when we’re all going to be together.