Cooking os special international days anyone ??

[Jeannine]

I have done this for years on and off and find it very interesting especially when sourcing ingredients. All around the on any given day someone ios celebrating something,. eg it wa s International Chocolate day a few weeks ago, guess what we had !!

A couple of weeks ago it was The International Day for the Rememberance of the Slave Trade and it's Abolition. The day was the same as the one that started the revolt in Santa Domingo that formed Haiti. As this one very close to me heart we ate the foods that slaves had, we cooked red beans and rice, collard greens and I even managed to find chitterlings.

Next Sunday is Michaelmas and I will be cooking goose , with blackberries and apple dumplings  to celebrate Devils Spit day

Does anyone else celebrate any special occasions, be them ones to do with your own cultures or religions etc.

I would be very interested to hear about them and maybe share some of the traditional foods for these special days.

XX Jeannine

[Jeannine]

[artichoke]

My goodness, that is the first time I have seen a reference to Devil's Spit for many decades! My Thai d-in-law loves to help me forage blackberries, chestnuts, elder etc etc, and gave me a very strange look when I explained we were doing the last blackberry picking because of the Devil's Spit...... I grew up in Fife, Scotland - where did you hear about the Devil and his destruction of the last blackberries?

My London daughter's children have special food days at primary school, which I think a very good idea, introducing them to each other's cultures. I don't think it is tied to a calendar - just an occasional happening.

Maybe you could alert us to approaching international food days, and see what we come up with? I am not sure how to look them up, but will try.

[artichoke]

PS I have succeeded in finding a Wiki site and see that tomorrow is National Vodka day in USA! No probs there.....just add vodka to my home made elderflower cordial (kept in freezer in bottles, and brought out over the year).

[Jeannine]

My parents did the Michaelmas dsy goose and blackberries picked just before Devils Spit Dayand I carried it on.. I will find you a couple of the days left for this year XX Jeannine

[Squash64]

We just missed out on National Kale Day yesterday.  Not that I've ever celebrated it
but I came across it while looking for kale information.

https://plus.google.com/u/0/communities/103372163793545347970

[artichoke]

National Kale Day! By coincidence I ate a mass of kale last night because my husband was away so I could cook what I liked: boiled up my shredded green and red kale and added it to a frying pan of mushrooms and onion and garlic, plus a seasoning of butter, lemon and a splash of blackberry vinegar. I am actually ill in bed at the moment or I would have added spaghetti, but did not have enough appetite. So that is one special day I have done.

Thanks for the kale site - full of interesting ideas.

[Squash64]

Sorry you aren't well Artichoke, hope you feel better soon.

I'm selling kale plants at the allotment in aid of the Lymphoma Association so
I thought I'd find out a bit about it to encourage people to grow it.  I never
expected such an interesting website though!

[Jeannine]

Canadian Thanksgiving this weekend, turkey, ham, stuffing, usual veggies plus candied yams, (actually they are sweet potatoes cooked in butter, orange juice and brown sugar)it is served as a veggie by the way. Pumpkin Pie..I make a Pumpkin Chiffon covered in whipped cream as we don't like the usual mud pie things. Starter will be a small salad with spinach, raspberries, mandarins and pecans, drizzled with a raspberry dressing. This year it is being done at my best friends house though so very little prep and no clean up..wow.

XX Jeannine

[Melbourne12]

You all might be interested in this site, which lists special food days, weeks and months.  It's a bit tongue in cheek, but it's a good source of ideas (American site), so today is National Pumpkin Pie day. http://foodimentary.com/

[Jeannine]

Thay are all a bit entertaining and that one is one for sure.

I tend to use Earth Calender most,and there is another one where everything is verified to the hilt but it can get a bit heavy and for some reason I can't find my link. I also use one that the governments use but it only gives international holidays,not any celebration days. Having said that it is usually the official holidays that I use unless it is something special to me or perhaps isa connected to cookery.

XX Jeannine