Burnaby Food First wishes you a merry Christmas

We wish all our readers a very happy and healthy Christmas. Here's wishing everyone also a lovely festival season and wonderful times with family and friends.

The festivities are all around us this month and foodies are probably already beginning to plan their Christmas dinner menus. So in this post we will try and visit some of the diverse food traditions celebrated in Canada during Christmas time brought over by the potpourri of immigrant cultures taking root here over the centuries. 

The main dish of the holiday dinner is usually roast turkey with stuffed dressing, cranberry sauce, gravy and this is part of the European traditions that early settlers have adapted and followed here for generations. Some families with ties to our neighbours south of the border may choose roast beef or ham or other poultry instead of turkey. More recent immigrants introduced the use of Asian recipes to cook the winter vegetables instead of the usual mashed potatoes, boiled carrots, green beans, squash or turnips for the sides. Also the protein could include a vegetarian option such as tofu or salmon for a lighter Christmas meal. Some families with middle eastern roots end up cooking a peasant meal or a lamb stew. 

Customary desserts include rich, heavy puddings filled with dried fruits or plums or carrot puddings or a sherry trifle. There are sometimes replaced here by fruity or creamy treats at the end of a hearty wintry meal. Perhaps you have had a chance to attend Burnaby Food First's free workshop earlier this month and plan a 'homemade apple dessert' this year for a change!

Source: CBC

In parts like Quebec there is also a tradition to celebrate 'r�veillon' on Christmas Eve with a sumptuous dinner consisting of lobster, oysters or foie gras and a meat pie called 'toutierre'. Dessert is 'Buche de Noel', a special thinly rolled sponge cake baked and designed to resemble the traditional 'Yule log' burned as part of a historic bonfire ritual. These are influences of historic French/European celebrations. In some parts of Nova Scotia, lobster is cooked on Christmas Eve. 

Other Christmas traditions here include cookie baking parties. Flavours from all over have made their way into the typical Canadian palette be it spice ginger cookies like the German 'lebkuchen' or Scottish shortbreads or Italian florentines or French meringues. BC's very own 'Nanaimo bars' are also a favourite for many. Mince pies are little pies filled with dried fruit mince and covered with a crumbly pastry. These are a must have for Christmas. Butter tarts topped with raisins, walnuts or pecans are popular in Eastern Canada. Children love the candy canes in red and white. 

Has reading about all this delicious mouth watering food inspired you to also cook something special or treat yourself to a special drink? Why not try your hand at baking some mince pies or pumpkin pies accompanied maybe with some fresh apple cider or eggnog? Here's wishing you once again a delicious and healthy Christmas!

Some links for further reading:

http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/is-turkey-still-king-how-canadian-holiday-food-traditions-are-changing-1.2466006

http://www.foodtimeline.org/christmasfood.html

http://cnmag.ca/food/1503-christmas-foods-a-canadian-tradition

http://www.whychristmas.com/cultures/canada.shtml

Food Security and Food Culture

Food Security includes not only ensuring access to food but also achieving good nourishment and nutrition. This is described as 'Utilization of food' as described in a previous article about this topic. Intake of a well balanced diet goes hand in hand with the diversity, customs and cultural traditions that are associated with food preparation and consumption. In order to achieve Food Security therefore, it is necessary to recognize the importance of culture in relation to food habits. This cultural aspect is further explored in this post. It is part of a series of articles about Food Security. 

We are what we eat

The experience of cooking and eating food is determined by lifestyle, resources, community influences, aesthetic preferences and all such factors that prescribe culture and identity. Food is usually a very important part of celebrations, holidays, festivals and events. Food production, preparation and intake are often collective activities among family, friends and community. These collective and cultural influences therefore are integral to continued intake of sufficient and nutritious food. 

For instance, meals are traditionally long, leisurely and eaten with together with family or friends in Latin cultures such as French, Italian or South American. In India and some other Asian cultures, elaborate cooking processes and use of a wide variety of ingredients are a common feature of everyday meals. Traditional Middle Eastern family meals are served in a communal plate in the centre of the table. Food is eaten without cutlery or plates but using hands.

Cultural traditions and customs are not fixed. They are continuously evolving but they remain part and parcel of Food Utilization and therefore Food Security. 

Impact of Culture on Food Security

Due to a modern lifestyle people are switching to a fast food culture and perhaps no longer attach enough importance to cultural traditions in food habits. The increasing trend towards eating out, take away meals moving away from home made food has negative consequences. Obesity, diabetes, heart disease, cancer are attributed among other factors to fast food, industrially or commercially prepared meals all of which often have high levels of sodium and fat and may be lacking in necessary vitamins and diverse nutrients compared to a traditional fresh home cooked meal. Many such articles are available on this subject. The likelihood of diseases like cancer being caused by consumption of processed meat has also recently been in the news. 

Source: Wikipedia

In a multicultural community, some families switching from their traditional cuisine to a western diet may adopt unhealthy cooking or eating habits. This may be because of losing touch with their own culture over generations as a result of modern developments like migration and globalisation. At the same time they may struggle to adapt to local cuisines due to lack of sufficient knowledge not having grown up with the local foods. Furthermore a move away from cooked meals using fresh ingredients to pre-packaged, processed, fast food can also diminish the importance and richness of our ecosystem which supports and creates our food. 

Suggested Measures

It is suggested that work done towards improving Food Security could include efforts to promote the importance of nutrition as well as a suitable cultural environment. This can be done by officially acknowledging the impact of diverse cultural habits and preferences while developing Food Security programs, training or services such as in food bank distribution programs, food related workshops/conferences or while subsidizing/incentivizing local food markets. Introducing an element of cultural awareness, celebration of traditional customs through food festivals, fusion cooking workshops or promotional food events are also part of the measures that encourage communities to better engage with food and eat well. 

Medical treatments are often prescribed after identifying likely deficiencies in a patient's traditional diet and eating patterns by doctors currently. For instance certain vegetarian diets result in deficiency of vitamin B12 with specific medical consequences and accordingly the treatment addresses the deficiencies. The impact on diet of cultural differences should perhaps be taken into account at a prior stage in the work done to improve Food Security.  

Burnaby Food First has been offering many interesting workshops this month to promote local food preparation techniques and locally produced food such as 'cooking with winter greens', 'cooking with root vegetables', 'drying and storing foods' and more. Please check our website for details or contact us to be included in our mailing list. 

Some links for further reading:

http://www.ryerson.ca/content/dam/foodsecurity/publications/articles/FoodIdentity.pdf

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/news/food-culture/

http://ideas.ted.com/what-americans-can-learn-from-other-food-cultures/