Easter food traditions from around the world

Easter foods - Poland

While traditional Polish Easter food is not as characteristic as Christmas dishes, it is still distinctive and, obviously, delicious. It is also deeply rooted in Christian heritage. On Holy Saturday Polish people go to the church to have their food basket blessed. Among others, you can typically find there an egg, the symbol of a new beginning/life, bread, the symbol of Christ and salt, the symbol of truth. I know that it doesn’t sound particularly exciting but I promise it gets better on Easter Sunday.

On Sunday we have a festive breakfast followed by sharing an egg within the family members (it sounds weird and it actually is weird). As a vegetarian, I’m not very enthusiastic about sausages nor salad with salmon but stuffed eggs my grandma makes compensate me for the meaty struggles. Taking the insides of a hard-boiled egg and mixing them with spices and mayo just to stuff them again inside the shell might sound controversial but believe me, it tastes amazing.

My second favourite type of Easter food is, what a surprise, cakes. We have two main types: bundt cake and “mazurek”. We usually have the classical, simple version of the first one but it can have various flavours, from chocolate and pistachio to lemon. It’s puffy and not too sweet, perfect for a coffee break. I’m not too sure how to describe “mazurek” because it comes in every shape and form. Basically, it’s a bit similar to millionaire shortbread but shorter and often contains nuts. My favourite version is with chocolate, fudge and plums. It is a pain to make but since I’m staying here over Easter, I’m tempted to bring it to my English kitchen.

- Maja Mazur

Easter foods - England

Now this may not be a tradition that all of England knows about, why it might even be something that only my family does... but it's our tradition and I would never not do it.

So what is this tradition? We roll our chocolate eggs. I don't know what you'll first thing of when reading that sentence but let me explain!

Upon eating a chocolate egg (the actual Easter eggs, not like a Cadbury's Creme Egg) we roll our eggs, in their wrappings, on the floor. Whilst the egg rolls we make a wish - it can be anything. This happens with all our Easter eggs - it isn't just a select one.

When I was younger I used to wish my syrian hamster, Daisy, would live forever - as eight year olds do. Only if that wish actually worked! My parents always have the same wish too but I shan't tell you that.

The rule, like when making any wish, is that you cannot tell your wish. If you tell your wish then it will simply not come true. Wishes can be made when someone sees a shooting star, when someone blows an eyelash off their finger or when someone blows dandelion seeds off the stem but, for my family, we make our wishes by rolling our Easter eggs.

- Katie Siddall

Easter foods - Latin America

For this bit we ago across the pond to savor our mind, eyes and pallet to the wonders of Latin America. A region often underrated when it comes to food and drink, and personally I think it has so much more to offer than tacos. You’d assume that Easter time in that part of the world would be a big deal for locals, and you’d be right given that 90% of the people are Christians, and about 69% of them identify as roman Catholics. That being said Easter traditions start 40 days before Easter, beginning at lent. During lent many Christians refrain from eating meat, that is why most dishes surrounding this time of year are often meat-free. In Ecuador for example, a famous soup called Fanesca is consumed during lent. The main ingredient of this soup is salted cod otherwise known as bacalao, it also incorporates some of Ecuador’s best produce like beans, chochos, corn and peas to make a fragrant, wholesome soup fit for any celebration.

What is Easter without candy? That is why we head to Brazil to explore the renowned Brazilian Peanut Candy Paçoca. Popular in the southeast of Brazil, these treats are made from the humblest ingredient you can find, peanuts, sugar and salt; stick them in a food processor, and blend until it they form a crumbly texture, easy and delicious! Speaking of delicious sweets, in Argentina Rosca De Pascua is always a crowd pleaser, roughly translated to Easter ring, it is a brioche like bread decorated with various toppings like pastry cream, fruits and nuts or simply eat it plain. Central and south America have one of the best cultures in the world, while they might seem very similar, each country stands unique on its own. If I were to write on each and every one of them I’ll probably need the whole newspaper to do so, that’s why I’ve only scratched the surface of this amazing culture in the hopes of giving it the praise it deserves.

- Marcel Shamshoum