Depending on where you are from, this hot little snack item may be known as a Beignet (New Orleans) Berliner (Germany), Paczki (Poland) or Puff Puff (Nigeria - West Africa). Best consumed shortly after emerging from the sizzling oil and eaten without adornment or sprinkled with a bit of sugar; it's like a little culinary festival undulating the taste buds. Warm molten yeast bread, perfect for any festive occasion or gathering.
I'm always intrigued by how different cultures celebrate traditional festivals and by how versions of similar types of food specialties are found all over the world. My mom would make a tasty, nutritionally dense dish called Ekpang on special occasions from cocoa yam, spinach/collard green leaves, tomatoes and onions, meat or chicken, spices and palm oil.
The dish took hours to grater the coco yams, season and steam in molds or tin foil and also prep the palm nut soup that suffused the yams with spicy flavors. She was originally from the Cameroons and as a kid, I thought that no one else had ever eaten this dish. Later, I would discover versions of the meal were enjoyed throughout various communities along the West African coastline.
In 2016, I am introducing a brand new course offering about Cultural Intelligence and the advantage that cultivating this skill set has for our personal and professional lives. Culture speaks in many different ways, but perhaps nowhere more eloquently than around food and the shared experience of holiday traditions including what we wear. Celebrations are an opportunity to revel and express our identity. Clothing is often a significant part of this.
I have fond memories of Christmas celebrations which were centered around family, food and the thrill of getting brand new clothes! Those brand new clothes were inaugurated into our Sunday best for the remainder of the year.
The notion of giving gifts was very different as a child as well. In fact, for our family the focus for Christmas presents was on watching our parents eyes light up as we gave them gifts that we had carefully crafted for them during our time at school. Their exclamations of delight and the proud display of those homemade mementos on a prominent shelf in our home, were some of the best memories I have of Christmas as a child.