George Andrew Fotheringham

During the holiday season, traditional foods become a prominent piece in every family gathering. In the melting pot of America, every culture enjoys their own meals and traditions, but what’s always the same is being in the company of people who love us. Pulse Magazine will take you through some of the most mouthwatering collection of recipes and most festive traditions as we explore different cultures in the city. From Latin America, to Africa and Europe, local residents share how they celebrate the holiday season.

Polish:
Tom’s Deli’s Stuffed Cabbage

The Polish celebration of Wigilia is an interesting holiday with deep traditions that have been practiced long since its inception. Darek Gago is the current owner of Tom’s Deli on Milbury Street and is a first generation Polish American. Gago spoke of all the amazing foods that are commonly seen at a Polish holiday celebration. “Cabbage with mushrooms; perrogis with potato, cheese, sauerkraut, and mushrooms, or just plain; different baked smoked or fried fish; red beet soup; Polish salad; those are the main meals”, Gago said. The dinner does not begin until everyone has received and broken a square of a wafer, which represents the host, and then each guest wishes everyone a happy, successful and healthy year. Traditionally, the absence of meat at the Wagilia dinner is representative of an old abstinence from meat by fasting, which is why the lunch during the next day is a regular Christmas Day meal that includes meat. Gago said the inclusion of an extra seat at the table is for an uninvited guest. Gago said, “Say there’s 10 people coming to dinner, you put ten seats and you put an extra seat in case someone would show up at your house uninvited”, someone who might be without food or family of their own. Nowadays it seems ridiculous for someone to show up at our door without at least sending a text, but traditions like these that think outside of our own lives and of people in need are always important. Tom’s International Deli is located at 52 Millbury St. and is open Monday-Saturday from 8 a.m. to 6 p.m.

Guatemalan:
Luis Toj’s Tacos

Unlike a standard Christmas dinner, a full-fledged party at Luis Toj’s house is a regular and much more exciting occasion. Toj is a first generation American who works in the city and lives in the area. His extensive family are natives of Guatemala. His holiday dinner is usually celebrated on New Year’s Eve and takes a full day’s preparation to feed the 25-30 family members and friends that will be attending. Toj’s mother wakes up at 5 a.m. to start cooking and continues until 2 p.m. Her sisters arrive to help her out and from there it takes until nearly 6 p.m. to prepare the rest of the food as the guests start showing up. Meanwhile Toj says, “All the men are sitting around watching football and drinking Coronas”. Once everyone sits down to eat, the meal continues well into the night, and generally ends around midnight. In a long list of foods that usually line the table, some of Toj’s favorites are tamales, chuchitos (smaller tamales with more meat), chicken tinga enchilada, mole (a red spicy sauce that you put on rice and drench the chicken in), tacos and horchata (a milky drink). Toj says, “my family will find any excuse to throw a party”. Christmas Eve dinner is pretty much like any of Toj’s other family events as guests are surrounded by food, flavor, and family.

African:
Fatima’s Cafe Bhajia

You might wonder how ninety-degree weather can get you in the holiday spirit, but it doesn’t take a New England winter with snow to bring friends and family together. Omar Issa, part owner of Fatima’s Cafe with his wife, explained his holiday experience as a Somali born in Kenya. “There is no head of the table”, Issa said, “most of the people sit down on the floor cross their legs and start eating”. Once everyone is seated the meal will start with appetizers of dates, samosa, sautéed meat with samolia anchero, vitumbua, rice, and bajai. Everyone will also pick up a cup of chai tea with cinnamon that Issa says is a must. This delicious drink along with foods like bajai has been adopted from Indian cuisine. During the main course you will probably see; lamb, goat, rice pilaf, chapati beef, and chicken-fried or sautéed. Around amazing food, the holiday meal is a time to come together as a family. “I wish we shared like that all the time”, Issa said, “Everybody’s humanities come out.” It is similarly a time to show respect to your elders, a tradition sometimes lost in a constantly evolving world. A holiday dinner might be held any day of the holiday season and every family changes what they want to put on the table, but the unity of family and friends stays the same. Fatima’s Cafe offers a taste of Africa without the travel and is located at 43 West Boylston St., Worcester.

Scottish:
Barbara Fotheringham’s Steak Pie

I couldn’t put together a list like this without talking to my mom about some of her own holiday dinners from growing up in Scotland. She told me that while most Americans might be more familiar and wearier of the traditional Scottish dish of haggis, which was popularized by the poet Robert Burns, a real Scottish Christmas wouldn’t be complete without a homemade steak pie. Don’t be misled though, haggis is an extremely popular Scottish dish that you will find in most Scottish family parties, along with some bagpipe instrumentals and their accompanying singalongs. My family has adjusted to a more American Christmas dinner since we moved to the States 20 years ago. However, my dad still prepares a steak pie while myself, my mom and my sister dig into the variety of Cadbury chocolates that my relatives send over. Hopefully one day I’ll get to celebrate a Christmas Holiday with my relatives back in Scotland. One Scottish tradition is to sit around the table and pull apart some Christmas crackers, a paper tube that two people pull either end of and hope to be holding the prize when it splits in two with a crack. We then don the paper crowns or mustaches that are kept inside and dig in. “Afterwards”, my mom says, “we would all sit around the tele and listen to the Queen’s Speech”, though nowadays our tradition is to play A Christmas Story on repeat all day.

Lebanese:
Food From Ed Hyder’s

Lebanese food is typically characterized by fresh fruits, vegetables, whole grains and seafood. The meal, while not characterized by a variety of traditions, gets its life from the congregation of family. “There is always a traditional Lebanese touch on all the foods that are cooked”, Miriam Hyder, of Hyder’s Mediterranean Market told me of her large family get togethers. A typical Christmas dinner for Hyder’s family will involve twenty people or more, including aunts, uncles and cousins. When asked what her favorite part of their holiday meal was, Hyder said, “Just being together with family and enjoying some laughs and quality time”. There are a lot of finger foods such as baba ghanouj, fresh tabula, hummus, and grape leaves. The dinner customarily features lots of lamb and maybe some cow tongues, and the main course starts off with Kabobs. It is a time characterized more by personal relations than by traditions. A time when anyone invited into your home is treated like family, a time for stories, food, and good times that everyone looks forward to in the holiday season. Ed Hyder’s Mediterranean Marketplace is located at 408 Pleasant St. and has been proudly serving Worcester residents since 1975.

Italian:
Doris Turpin’s Wedding Cookies

An Italian Christmas is a celebration of tradition, family and fine food made from scratch. Doris Turpin of East Brookfield describes her annual tradition on Christmas Eve. The evening begins by getting dressed up, attending Christmas Eve mass. Afterwards, the family gathers at the table for a home cooked extravaganza! The Christmas Eve dinner consists of homemade ravioli, fresh meatballs, garlic bread and marinara sauce that has been slow cooked for hours. “The house looks plentiful and pretty and the food tastes damn good,” Turpin said. The night’s festivities continue with opening Christmas gifts underneath the tree,reading Twas the Night Before Christmas in front of the fireplace and playing card games all night. For Turpin, the food is the heart of any celebration. Her recipes have a history as they have been passed down from relatives and friends throughout the generations and are kept in a treasured but well-worn cookbook. “I swear the Italians, only give other Italians their recipes,” she jokes. While her holiday meal is the culmination of hard work and love, it is her Italian cookies that steal the show. Italian Wedding Cookies, Venetian Rainbow Cookies, Biscotti, Anise Cookies and more are made by the dozens. After baking them, they are beautifully wrapped and given as gifts to family, friends and even strangers that need a little holiday cheer. When asked what her favorite part of the holidays was, Turpin answered, “Family, getting together. I love it. I love cooking the cookies, decorating them, I love it all!”

Jewish:
Dan Berger’s Latkes

The celebration of Hanukkah is observed over eight days and nights and will begin this year on December 22nd and end on December 30th. Dan Berger, 35, a resident of Leominster, is excited to begin sharing more of his culture with his children. “It’s nice to get out and away from all the red and green lights around”, Berger said. “I get to show my kids the blue and silver decorations and I can tell them how it makes them unique,” he added. Though he did mention with a laugh that he does not think his kids care what they are doing as long as they are getting gifts. According to Berger, food is not as important on Hanukkah as it would be on a holiday like Passover, when families gather for a big meal and cook a brisket. “We mostly eat finger foods for Hanukkah because we get together at night to light the menorah”, Berger said, “but on Christmas Eve my family has always ordered Chinese food. Partly because there’s nothing else open, but it’s become a tradition”. The finger foods will usually include fried items like Latkes, which are fried potato pancakes and fried chicken. Foods are fried on Hanukkah as a representation of the flask of oil which kept the Temple’s Menorah lit for eight days straight. Other important traditions include the lighting and blessing of the menorah, the giving of Hanukkah gelt and spinning the dreidel. It’s also a chance to get together with family, enjoy good times and exchange gifts.

The holidays come and go faster than we expect leaving behind just memories and full bellies. However you choose to spend your holiday season, there is always room for a new tradition or even just a dish that you are unfamiliar with. Spice up your table with new flavors and new topics for conversation, even if it’s about your disastrous attempt at making latkes-! Where we are isn’t as important as who we’re with; at tables, on the floor or even around the tv can be the perfect setting for friends and family to spread good time and good cheer. So set the table, put out an extra setting, share some traditions and turn on your favorite holiday special, while we stuff food in our bellies and love in our hearts.