Exploring the cultural holiday dishes of Northwood students

“The first time I had latkes was definitely before Kindergarten. In our family, we typically eat religious foods at home or at our cousins’ house as a way to celebrate Hanukkah together. So I’ve never had latkes without my family, because part of its significance is eating and making them together during the holidays.  One of my favorite memories associated with latkes is experimenting with...

“​​We traditionally eat this during the Korean New Year’s celebration on Jan. 23, or Seollal (Lunar New Year), when families come together to share their blessings and perform ancestral rites.  The ingredients have symbolic importance: The white tteok (rice cakes) symbolizes purity and cleanliness and the coin-like shapes represent yeon jeop, an old Korean currency, to show prosperity. Basicall...

 “My earliest memories of dumplings were watching a crowd of tall relatives and family friends laugh and converse over each other. There is an organized assembly line: The women work on the filing—a mixture of pork, chives, green onions and sesame oil—while the men roll out the dough of flour and water.  We eat dumplings every day, but also on special occasions. It’s somewhat paradoxi...

“We typically eat tamales during Christmas time. Tamales have corn as the principal ingredient. Originally, corn was a very important crop for the Aztecs. It even had religious importance. But today, we don’t really focus on eating these foods for that significance. The overall cultural significance for us is keeping the traditions of food and the process of making it alive.  Usually, we make ta...