Traditional Easter Dishes in Different Countries
03 April 2012
Easter is a religious holiday celebrated by Christians all over the world. It is believed that on this day Jesus Christ rose from the dead (on the third day after his crucifixion). The whole week, called Holly Week, is dedicated to resurrection of Christ. This holiday has a lot of traditions, and one of them is Easter food. Main Easter dishes are paskha (special Easter bread), Easter Eggs, meat rolls, roasted meat, ham, and different sweets, like buns.
Easter is celebrated on the first Sunday after the full moon. Every year this date varies – between March 22 and April 25 by the Julian Calendar and between April 4 and May 8 by the Gregorian Calendar.
Easter is a family holiday. There are many traditions of celebrating it in different countries. But mostly people go to church, consecrate food, make family dinners or great picnics for friends, organize interesting games for children (for example, kids take baskets, search and pick Easter Eggs, which their parents have hidden). In most countries Easter Sunday is a day off, but some countries have the whole week vacation.
What to cook for Easter in your country
Easter Bread – paskha in Eastern Europe and sometimes in US, penia or pannetone in Italy. It is made of flour, eggs, butter, sugar and different optional ingredients (raisins, nuts, dried fruit etc.). Sometimes paskha is cooked of cottage-cheese.
Easter Eggs – hard-boiled eggs painted in bright colours or with pasted patterns and pictures. Also other egg dishes are cooked. Like stuffed eggs.
Meat. Usually people roast meat for Easter, make barbecues, cook meat rolls or ham. Very often they choose lamb, beef or pork. On Easter table there should obligatorily be some meat, because it is the end of long fasting.
Sweets. Of course, people cook some sweets for Easter. There can be different buns, pizzelle (Italian waffles), sweet rolls, cakes, biscuits etc. In US and Canada people cook hot cross buns, peeps and sweet bread. In Eastern Europe poppy seed rolls, babkas, kalaches and kuliches are popular. In Western Europe flaouna, koulourakia, pastiera, folars are cooked for Easter.
But actually you can cook anything you want for Easter dinner. There are no strict rules. As we managed, this day is the first day after great fasting, so you can cook meat even if you're very religious. Pick any favourite dishes and spend this holiday with your beloved family and friends.
Here are several Easter recipes for you
Meat dishes
Mince Kebab with Shredded lettuce
Lamb Chops with Green Peppercorn Glaze
Marinated Leg of Lamb with Cream Sauce
Egg dishes
Eggs in herbal and mustard sauce
Deviled eggs with shrimps and radishes
Deviled eggs with sun-dried tomatoes and chives
Sweet dishes
Apricot and nut-stuffed Fruit Bread