L uxuriously decorated trees, col- ourful little lamps, sparklers, glittering hearts, tables full of treats… this is the visual iden- tity of the New Year’s and Christmas holidays from the 19 th century, wheth- er they are being celebrated by Ortho- dox believers, Catholics, Protestants, or even atheists. In this picture, the oldest chronologically is the Christmas cake, comprising a combination of dried fruits and nuts, spices and cereals. It came from the Holy Land via the crusaders, just like sugar, to Europe. The crusaders also brought the exotic delicacy of panforte, a “strong bread”, the oldest preserved recipe for which dates back to the start of the 13 th century. These expen- sive treats were only eaten by kings, while ordinary people satisfied themselves with fruit compotes, porridge with dry pears and prunes, cakes with honey and pud- dings, usually made as a porridge con- taining meat, soup, candied citrus peel, walnuts and breadcrumbs. English Christmas pudding changed completely during the 19 th century, thanks to the development of culinary techniques, and above all the invention of the stove, but also due to the easier availability of once extremely expensive ingredients like sugar, eggs, chocolate, spices and luxury rum. It became an ex- clusively sweet cake that most British traditionalists still regard as an inevi- table part of the festive feast today. In the 14 th century, the Germans came up with their own version of sweet bread
with dry fruit, a cake called Christolen, which is most similar to Kommissbrot. Closest to this German Christmas cake is the famous Italian panettone. In the past it was impossible to im- agine Christmas without gingerbread, which is among the oldest cakes known to human civilisation. Especially valued are those expensive ones with particu- lar spice mixtures, such as Nürnberg lebkuchen, which is still one of the key Christmas cakes of Germanic Northern Europe. Kommissbrot and Gugelhupf would also arrive in our region as spe- cial ceremonial forms of cakes via Ser- bian cultural circles on the territory of the former Austro-Hungarian Empire. By taking on urban forms of Christmas celebrations from their Catholic neigh- bours, the Serbs in Vojvodina formed a unique type of intangible heritage when it came to the holidays that would introduce to the cuisine of the young Principality of Serbia different dishes, especially desserts with fruit, cakes and small buns that would be- come an key part of the Christmas hol- idays. Still dominant in the rural tradi- tion are pies with fruit and dried fruit which aren’t placed on the table every day. In the past those from the hum- blest households would eat fried dough sprinkled with sugar, a treat that Rus- sians still serve for Christmas today, call- ing it angelic wings. Even porridge with honey and the odd hazelnut or walnut represented a treat worthy of the birth of the Lord.
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