Eggs-tra Special
Eggs-tra Special
Celebrating "culture, family and tradition" this holiday weekend
This weekend’s Easter Celebration lures us back to our roots to taste the foods of our forebears that were eaten on special occasions. The foodstuffs of memory feed your soul and help maintain a connection with your past and your young self.
In my Polish (maternal) and Irish (paternal) families that meant different menus, depending on where we celebrated. But eggs were always included. If we were at my Baci’s house in Ohio, we had White Borscht, stuffed cabbage rolls, and her nut roll.
In Philly the main event was the hunt for the dyed eggs and the Easter basket, which we weren’t allowed to touch until after church. There may have been ham with a brown sugar and pineapple glaze on the dinner table and Asher’s chocolate-covered coconut eggs for dessert, but that was early on. Once our mom started working at Stouffer’s in Jenkintown, the only way to see her on a holiday was to get on the schedule.
Each family has their traditions. My friend Joanne Green always makes a coconut lamb cake for Easter dessert with a lamb mold that survived their recent downsizing. Even if it only appears once a year, it is part of the fabric of the family.
My friend Joe Torrell asked me if I knew about Easter Pizza. With deep roots in the old country, the Italian man waxed poetic about his family tradition.
“Re: Easter pizza:
Different regions of Italia make that dish differently. [My people all came from Calabria, the toe of the boot] Some Italians make it in pie form. Some use ricotta. But the basic idea is the same. Meat, cheese and eggs in a crust. The most important idea though, is that you make it like your Nunna made it.
One of my nephews married a non-Italian... lovely young woman. But several Easters ago, she offered that we make a vegetarian version! My, but she was hooted down, probably led by my own objections, me being a traditionalist. We did relent however, and now there is a meatless, healthy, version and it is tasty. Healthy or "let's try something different" completely misses the point though. Easter pizza is about culture, family, tradition, and the fact that Lent is over and we can be joyful once again.
You can look it up online and see for yourself, the many variations and stories. After Thanksgiving, Easter Saturday might be my next favorite holiday. Please don't ask me for a recipe. There isn't one. We just do it like Nunna did and she didn't use a recipe either.
Capice?... Giuseppe”
Joe was right about many variations for Easter Pizza and I may try one of them myself this year. But I have to make the White Borscht for Baci’s sake. And I had to dye eggs with Kirk who, at almost 3, is just building his holiday memory bank. I want his to be rich, filled with association and wonder. He may not know that eggs are spring’s symbol of rebirth and hope, but he can sure enjoy a bite of hard-boiled egg and look forward to the hunt for them on Easter morning. It’s a start.
