Rumblings & Ramblings

Halloween is officially over and it is the first day of the whole Christmas rush. Or so it seems, as retailers are already pushing their holiday wares on us with their decorations and prominent features of festive foods at the end of each aisle. Naturally I am made to think of Christmas past, present & future, and specifically of food traditions and feasting.

Last year my French family had rabbit stew and saffron duck for Christmas. My cousin Hoang e-mailed me with those details, knowing that I would appreciate knowing exactly what I was missing out on. The various cakes and Christmas logs, the cheeses and breads, foie gras, exotic fruits such as longans and lychees adorning the tables. Traditionally for as long as I’ve lived most of my mother’s family gathers outside of Paris at my aunt Jeanine and uncle Hung’s house to celebrate “le réveillon de Noël” and my cousin Tuyen’s birthday. I still clearly remember my Christmases in France quite fondly: real live decorated pine tree with presents literally piled up to the top, higher and taller than the tree, a mix of French and Vietnamese foods, cakes and chocolate galore, us multiple cousins running up and down the stairs, constant loud laughter coming from the adults as they joked and teased each other. Quite idealistic really.

Christmases in Canada have always varied. I remember a lot of fights the first few years, hostility between relatives and awkward situations. I also remember a lot of delicious meals: a whole roast pork, egg and crab soup with quail eggs, the standard papaya and shrimp salad, and all kinds of surprises. I think the best feast was a couple of Chrismases ago when we had a meal that was vegan and full of vegetable goodness. My favourite was the thick-sliced King Oyster stir fry, and after eating so wholesomely and healthy, I felt amazing unless most post-Christmas dinners that have me comatose and feel grossly full of fat and sugar. It was a reflection of my father’s family’s Buddhist views which permeated any Christian and main stream North American practices we honoured, such as celebrating Christmas and Thanksgiving. That meal was chosen as so because my grandmother, the matriarch, died that year and although usually my father’s family are ardent meat lovers, they were still in mourning.

Now that I have a live-in and long-term partner I have taken on his family’s traditions of feasting on food enough for fifteen people when in reality there are only 8 or so of us, baked goods galore with at least 6 or so kinds of cookies, pies and cheesecake, marshmallow snowmen and hot chocolate, presents galore and inconceivable dollar store knick-knacks in our stocking, and chocolate in the form of the first letter of our name. Steven’s mother goes out of her way to find a chocolate ‘X’, which if you haven’t noticed, ‘X’ lettering is hard to find. His mom watches the Food Network and loves Italian food. She however has her take on things. Steven once made bruschetta on grilled and olive oiled baguette for his family and his mother adored it. Next time we came to visit she made it with diced raw tomatoes, garlic, onion and parsley, as per usual. However, she had also added mozzarella, olives and bacon bits.

I haven’t really developed my own Christmas traditions though, and as one not big on the consumer, gift giving or the religious aspect, I can only imagine my traditions may be family or food oriented. Time will tell.