When talking about the traditional Easter foods, the first name that comes to mind is that of an Easter egg.  The food preparations for Easter vary from country to country. But some food symbols are viewed with equal importance in all the food cultures. Some of the traditional Easter Foods across the world includes:

Easter Eggs: This is the staple amongst various Easter foods discussed here. The eggs are chosen over other ingredients because it is related to the rebirth, immortality and resurrection.  In ancient times the egg were hidden in the baskets. The tradition of serving eggs was kicked out of necessity. Nowadays traditionally colored eggs have been replaced by chocolate eggs or eggs colored with edible dyes.

Hot Cross Buns: On hearing the name of the bun the first thing that strikes our mind is of a nursery rhyme where the small boy is lured with the site of hot cross buns. The same goes with traditional Easter dinner too. The hot cross buns never cease to amaze us with their freshness and aromatic peppiness. It is believed that the tradition of serving hot cross buns during Easter was initiated by Anglo Saxons who honored their springtime goddess by offering the small wheat cakes. However, after the advent of Christianity the church chose to observe the tradition with a difference, they replaced the cake with sweet, aromatic breads. The breads to be served were blessed by the church. The crosses were drawn on the bun to depict the torture underwent by Jesus Christ to save the humanity.

But sweet cakes are still served in some countries as the part of traditional Easter food culture. In some of the countries, breads are marked with cross and topped with eggs before serving.

Ham: Ham stands distinct amongst all other American traditional Easter foods.  The meat which was first served as a part of necessity has now more or less become a traditional fixture.  In ancient times when the refrigeration or other preservatory methods were not in use the meat was normally butchered in fall. The pork was usually preserved for spring by curing. The curing process normally took lots of time and manpower. As a result of all these the hams were served during Easter. But later on it became an integral part of the American Easter food culture.

Roast Lambs: They are not globally popular as the traditional Easter foods but it is treated as the one by many of the Christians residing in European countries. The legend of serving roast lambs for Easter dinner can tracked to the time of Passover of Jewish people.  The lambs were roasted and teamed with unleavened bread and bitter herbs.   Jews passed over their dish to be blessed by God. They prayed the God should visit their house and bring them no harm. Similarly when the Jews got converted to Christianity they carried over the reminiscences of this tradition along with them, which went to become one of the unusually popular food symbols of Easter. When served during the dinner the roast lambs are teamed with mint jelly.

Stay tuned to this space to know the The list of traditional Easter foods will be discussed in later blogs. 

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