Hear a discussion about holiday food and cooking culture
Learn about different dishes and foods that are often prepared for the holidays.
Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc.
Transcript
MATT: To start, can you please just introduce yourself and what your job is?
MICHELE METYCH: Sure. I'm a Production Editor at Encyclopedia Britannica, and a Professional Chef.
MATT: I think we're interested in the professional chef angle as the holidays are approaching. My first question would be, why do you think people cook more around the holidays?
MICHELE METYCH: Food is one of the things that we can still keep to celebrate. I know a lot of people's celebrations look different this year. But food is still a good way to keep connections. It's still possible to connect virtually and eat the same things. So you have that sense of shared experience.
MATT: What are some popular dishes that people cook around this time of year?
MICHELE METYCH: This is a great time of year for food in my opinion. It's my favorite time of year for food. So there is eggnog, gingerbread, Christmas ham, in America, turkey became pretty standard. Turkeys are native to America. So that's how we got from roast goose to roast turkey for American holidays.
MATT: What are some specific foods that we cook because of certain cultures?
MICHELE METYCH: Gingerbread people as we know them now. Queen Elizabeth I was actually the first person to have gingerbread cookies decorated as people because she was honoring visiting dignitaries. Then the Brothers Grimm wrote Hansel and Gretel and the popularity of gingerbread houses pretty much exploded. And they published that in the 1800s.
MATT: So Michelle, are there any certain types of foods that are directly associated with a certain holiday?
MICHELE METYCH: Yes, absolutely. For example, there's Hanukkah. And Hanukkah is so closely tied to latkes, which are fried crispy potatoes. And the point of that is not the potato, it's the oil. It's supposed to mark the miracle of the oil lasting for eight nights.
MATT: In your opinion, why do you think food is such an important part of culture?
MICHELE METYCH: Yeah, so there was a 2014 study that linked the regions of the brain that are connected to taste memories with the regions of the brain that encode time and place. And so there's actually a scientific reason for why like taste in food brings us back to a certain memory. It's such a way to honor the people who've come before us and stay connected.
MATT: Speaking of the people that came before us, I think a lot of people are used to older recipes. Recipes have been passed down great grandmother's recipes. So we really look at the food that we cook as from the past. From what you have seen, are people creating new traditions that involve cooking?
MICHELE METYCH: Yes, I think that this is a great time for building on that structure. For me personally at Christmas, I will be making my grandmother's lasagna, a recipe I got from my mother. But I have combined her lasagna recipe with a lasagna recipe that a chef in Bologna, Italy taught me.
So I've just tweaked it. But it's still my grandmother's recipe. But also, now it's my recipe. And I think that's the great thing about food.
Michelle are there any specific recipes that you're going to be cooking this holiday season.
MICHELE METYCH: Yes, for Christmas Eve dinner. I'm making a Black Forrest cake.
And what's the history behind the Black Forrest cake?
MICHELE METYCH: The Black Forrest cake originated in the Black Forrest region of Germany, and it is decorated to look like the costumes, that traditional dancers wore. And it involves Kirsch which is a cherry brandy, and it's layered with chocolate cake, and whipped cream, and cherries.
MATT: Well, it sounds delicious. And as a treat to our viewers, we actually have a separate video of you going through the recipe of that cake, which we will absolutely share. I know that came out delicious.
Great. Well, Michelle, thank you so much for joining us today. And I hope you have a great safe holiday season. Thank you, Matt. You too.
MICHELE METYCH: Sure. I'm a Production Editor at Encyclopedia Britannica, and a Professional Chef.
MATT: I think we're interested in the professional chef angle as the holidays are approaching. My first question would be, why do you think people cook more around the holidays?
MICHELE METYCH: Food is one of the things that we can still keep to celebrate. I know a lot of people's celebrations look different this year. But food is still a good way to keep connections. It's still possible to connect virtually and eat the same things. So you have that sense of shared experience.
MATT: What are some popular dishes that people cook around this time of year?
MICHELE METYCH: This is a great time of year for food in my opinion. It's my favorite time of year for food. So there is eggnog, gingerbread, Christmas ham, in America, turkey became pretty standard. Turkeys are native to America. So that's how we got from roast goose to roast turkey for American holidays.
MATT: What are some specific foods that we cook because of certain cultures?
MICHELE METYCH: Gingerbread people as we know them now. Queen Elizabeth I was actually the first person to have gingerbread cookies decorated as people because she was honoring visiting dignitaries. Then the Brothers Grimm wrote Hansel and Gretel and the popularity of gingerbread houses pretty much exploded. And they published that in the 1800s.
MATT: So Michelle, are there any certain types of foods that are directly associated with a certain holiday?
MICHELE METYCH: Yes, absolutely. For example, there's Hanukkah. And Hanukkah is so closely tied to latkes, which are fried crispy potatoes. And the point of that is not the potato, it's the oil. It's supposed to mark the miracle of the oil lasting for eight nights.
MATT: In your opinion, why do you think food is such an important part of culture?
MICHELE METYCH: Yeah, so there was a 2014 study that linked the regions of the brain that are connected to taste memories with the regions of the brain that encode time and place. And so there's actually a scientific reason for why like taste in food brings us back to a certain memory. It's such a way to honor the people who've come before us and stay connected.
MATT: Speaking of the people that came before us, I think a lot of people are used to older recipes. Recipes have been passed down great grandmother's recipes. So we really look at the food that we cook as from the past. From what you have seen, are people creating new traditions that involve cooking?
MICHELE METYCH: Yes, I think that this is a great time for building on that structure. For me personally at Christmas, I will be making my grandmother's lasagna, a recipe I got from my mother. But I have combined her lasagna recipe with a lasagna recipe that a chef in Bologna, Italy taught me.
So I've just tweaked it. But it's still my grandmother's recipe. But also, now it's my recipe. And I think that's the great thing about food.
Michelle are there any specific recipes that you're going to be cooking this holiday season.
MICHELE METYCH: Yes, for Christmas Eve dinner. I'm making a Black Forrest cake.
And what's the history behind the Black Forrest cake?
MICHELE METYCH: The Black Forrest cake originated in the Black Forrest region of Germany, and it is decorated to look like the costumes, that traditional dancers wore. And it involves Kirsch which is a cherry brandy, and it's layered with chocolate cake, and whipped cream, and cherries.
MATT: Well, it sounds delicious. And as a treat to our viewers, we actually have a separate video of you going through the recipe of that cake, which we will absolutely share. I know that came out delicious.
Great. Well, Michelle, thank you so much for joining us today. And I hope you have a great safe holiday season. Thank you, Matt. You too.