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March Meal Ideas and Springtime Celebrations
Germany’s culinary traditions in March and April are worth an overview and introduction. Each of the topics listed below has its own page for March meal ideas, with background information, recipes and product suggestions. Usher in Springtime Celebrations with …
St. Patrick’s Day on March 17 is all about celebrating Irish culture, food and lifestyle. Here, we cannot help ourselves pointing out some obvious Irish-German culinary connections: the love for beer, cabbage, potatoes, and raucous parties and parades. Get the facts on common customs and recipes for St. Patrick Day meals
Springtime – between March and May – is the traditional season of fastening (think Lent and Ramadan), eating lighter meals, and slimming down. On the menu are more salads, more vegetables, fewer meat dishes and fewer heavy sauces. An increasing number of people add plant based foods to their diets, especially in meat-heavy regions such as Germany, Central Europe and North America. A cleansing diet around the spring equinox clears out winter’s remains and tune the our bodies for spring.
Pretzels and beer are traditional Lenten foods. This may come at a surprise to those who regard Lenten as a time of lean diets. Indeed, over many centuries, Christians were forbidden from eating any animal products including eggs, milk and lard for forty days between Ash Wednesday and Easter. And it was not unusual for religious observers to partake of only one meal per day. This gave birth to the pretzel: a simple type of bread made with water, salt, yeast and flour, that would satisfy both the fasting and abstinence rules.
It’s hard to imagine the Easter and Spring season without eggs. They are pagan symbols of earth’s rebirth. In the Christian religion they represent the boulder that was rolled away from the tomb of Jesus Christ. In the Jewish Passover tradition, boiled eggs on the Seder plate symbolize renewal. And eggs are an integral part of the sehri meal consumed by Muslims before dawn during Ramadan. Add the chocolate-, marzipan-, or dyed hard-boiled eggs for Easter Sunday. We put a spotlight on the various ways to use eggs during the Easter season…
German Easter traditions include many that we think of as universal — Easter eggs, Easter baskets filled with sweets, and, of course, the Easter bunny. In fact, some traditions trace back to, some date back to ancient times and “pagan” celebrations somewhere in Europe. Nearly all include symbols of Earth’s rebirth each spring, when winter’s darkness ends, snows melt, daffodils grow, and the end of Lent is nigh. Explore traditional Easter activities, menu ideas and cake recipes for each of the five days of the Easter celebrations.
