A big part of many cultural, familial and religious traditions or celebrations is centered around food. Join us in exploring holiday food around the world, digital cookbook collections, relationships between food and culture and more! Read on to keep learning.
In this post:
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Digital cookbook collections
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The Encyclopedia of Food and Culture
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Finding special occasion food and recipes in the A to Z World database
Digital Cookbook Collections
You probably already have your annual recipes ready to go, but this year’s holiday season will inevitably be different from previous years. If you’re looking for a new recipe, or for an easy way to share recipes with your loved ones virtually, take a look at our digital cookbooks! Find them in our apps, such as CloudLibrary, Freading, Hoopla and OverDrive.
Food and Culture
How have your holiday traditions changed over your lifetime? What new traditions have you inculcated based on the movement, loss or addition of family members? The “holidays” section of the Encyclopedia of Food and Culture explores various types of holidays and holiday celebrations in relation to the meals shared by celebrating cultures.
“The association between holidays and foods may be lessening, yet it persists in many ways, and understanding the genesis of holidays assists in continuing to reinvent them…. More modestly, a holiday is a chance to catch up with household chores, for a city worker to spend time in the kitchen, or for everyone to go on a picnic. People shift to a beach or mountain house to get away from the clamor of newspapers, television, and junk mail, and go fishing or hunting. Stressed workers still need time to read, to chat over coffee, to walk along the beach, to linger over meals, to philosophize into the night. Even more fundamentally, human beings need to keep in touch with the seasons. Given the range of the world's climates, clinging to the best local products is a force for difference.” Read more here.
AtoZ World Food database – “Special Occasion Foods”
This database allows you to find information about the food culture from over 70 countries and includes hundreds of recipes. When you select a country from the map on the database’s homepage, you’ll have the option to explore national or regional cuisine, classic dishes, daily meals, dining etiquette and recipes for appetizers, main courses, desserts, side dishes and more. One notable section is the Special Occasion Foods category, which offers information about religious foods and holiday celebrations and includes links to featured recipes.
