Eating around the World at Easter

Sure, if you accept Easter as part of your culture, then you will probably love receiving some chocolate eggs during the festivities each year. However, there are some amazing foods from around the world that are eaten traditionally over the Easter and Lent period. Some of these you may know, some you may not, but they all look extremely tasty – and probably healthier than chocolate eggs, too! So let’s now look at 14 of the finest Easter snacks that you could munch on in 2018!

Tsoureki is a sweet, egg-enriched bread that can be shaped either into a circle or into two large braids and sprinkled with nuts or blanched almonds. It is served with red Easter eggs that have been dyed to represent the blood of Christ or red rosebuds.

Kulich is a kind of Easter bread that is traditional in the Orthodox Christian faith and is eaten traditionally after the Easter service, when it has been put into a basket, decorated with colourful flowers, and blessed by the priest. Blessed kulich is eaten before breakfast each day. Any leftover kulich that is not blessed is eaten with cheese Paskha for dessert.

Schinken im Brotteig is a simple German snack which is basically ham inside bread. It is a traditional Easter snack, but can also be eaten at other times of the year.

Capirotada is a traditional Mexican food similar to a bread pudding that is usually eaten during the Lent Period. It is one of the dishes served on Good Friday.

Advocaat is a traditional Dutch alcoholic beverage made from eggs, sugar and brandy. The rich and creamy drink has a smooth, custard-like flavour.

Cape Malay Pickled Fish is a traditional meal for many South Africans over long weekends, such as Easter. The fish takes a few days to marinate in the fridge, but when festivities are in full swing, it can be served with green salad, or even some chips!

Mammi is traditionally made of water, rye flour, and powdered malted rye, seasoned salt, and dried powdered Seville orange zest. The mixture is then allowed to go through a slow natural sweetening process before being baked in an oven until set with Maillard reaction. Preparation takes many hours, and after baking the mämmi is stored chilled for three to four days before being ready to eat. Generally, mämmi is eaten cold with either milk or cream and sugar, and less commonly with vanilla sauce.

Torta Pasqualina is usually eaten for Easter breakfast and is a light flan made of egg, spinach, and herbs. It is very similar in texture to a quiche.

Hot Cross Buns are spiced sweet buns made with currants or raisins, marked with a cross on the top, and traditionally eaten on Good Friday. The buns mark the end of Lent and different parts of the hot cross bun have a certain meaning, including the cross representing the crucifixion of Jesus, and the spices inside signifying the spices used to embalm him at his burial.

Fanesca is a soup traditionally prepared and eaten by households and communities in Ecuador during Holy Week. It is a rich soup, with the primary ingredients being figleaf gourd (sambo), pumpkin (zapallo), and twelve different kinds of beans and grains including chochos (lupines), habas (fava beans), and lentils, together with bacalao (salt cod) cooked in milk, due to the Catholic religious prohibition against red meat during Holy Week. The twelve beans represent the twelve apostles of Jesus, and the bacalao is symbolic of Jesus himself.

Chipa is a type of small, baked, cheese-flavoured roll, and is a popular snack food in Paraguay. At Easter, Chipas will become more widely-consumed and usually cut into all kinds of strange shapes, perhaps representing Easter motifs. The Chipa is very similar to the street food known as Pão de Queijo from Brazil.

Hornazo is a Spanish meat pie eaten in the provinces of Salamanca and Ávila in Spain. It is made with flour and yeast and stuffed with pork loin, spicy chorizo sausage, and hard-boiled eggs. It is traditionally consumed around Easter time.

Gubana seems to be a fruit and nut cake originating from northern Italy. It is very similar to a strudel from Austria. The distinctive snail-shaped markings of the Gubana are seen in villages everywhere over the festive period.

Roast Lamb is the most popular Easter food around the world is the lamb. In past centuries it was considered a lucky omen to meet a lamb, especially at Easter time. It was a popular superstition that the devil, who could take the form of all other animals, was never allowed to appear in the shape of a lamb because of its religious symbolism. In the 7th century, Benedictine monks wrote a prayer for the blessing of lambs. A few hundred years later the pope adopted it and a WHOLE roasted lamb became the feature of the Pope’s Easter Dinner, and has been ever since!