Written By: Chloe Schwalbe and Olivia Prather 

This winter and holiday season, families are celebrating with traditions, decorations, and, most importantly, food. During the cold season, food can be a source of warmth, comfort, and a way to bring people together. Each family has their own, unique recipes for the food they enjoy during the holidays, and oftentimes, it will be the same year after year. Not only do family recipes provide a sense of cheer and nurturance, but with these special foods come memories that are recaptured in each bite. Familiarity and sentimentality is rediscovered at this time of year through the foods served during celebrations and cold, winter nights. 

In the RCDS community, different students stepped up to share about their own family recipes. Chloe Berg ‘29 described her Chanukah family tradition as her mom making latkes, a type of shallow-fried potato pancake. Her family’s close friends also bring them suffangiyot, a deep-fried, jelly-filled donut that symbolizes the miracle of the oil that lasted eight days during Chanukah. Along with this, Stasisu Klingenstein ‘29 stated his Polish Christmas traditions include a żurek soup, a traditional, hearty, Polish, sour, rye soup with an egg in it, that his grandmother makes each year, and his family likes to eat the soup out of a bread bowl. He talked about his family’s tradition of making piregois, which are savory, delicious dumplings filled with mushroom, mashed potatoes, cheese, or more. Olivia Napoli ‘29 celebrates her Italian heritage by having chicken cutlets, ham, and pizza rustica, an Italian meat-filled cheesecake made with a flaky pastry crust, during the Christmas season. Finally, Maya Torgalker ‘27 discussed her Christmas tradition of making gingerbread houses with her mom and sister each year, including gum drops, candy canes, and vanilla icing.  

As winter break comes to a close, many students try to grasp on to everything they can to feel that same sense of comfort and relaxation they had on break. Nights spent with family, friends, and loved ones, surrounded by warm, familiar meals are now just a mere memory, but the feelings during these times can always be resurrected. Over these next few cold, winter months, as a means of reclaiming these feelings, there are a few foods and meals recommended to make during your free time. First, the epitomes of warmth and comfort itself, are two recipes from Ina Garten. What better food to feel comfort than a cookie? Her “Giant Crinkled Chocolate Chip Cookie” recipe makes large, flat, crunchy, and warm cookies, requiring large, semi-sweet chocolate chunks rather than chips to further elevate it— a delicious, “must have” dessert. Also, Garten’s viral “Brownie Pudding” is incredibly breath-taking and heart-warming. Cooked in a water-bath, the top of the brownie becomes crispy as the inside remains gooey, and the rich, chocolatey flavor is inherently apparent. For the savory fans, Marcella Hazan’s “Bolognese Sauce” is highly recommended. Filled with onion, carrot, celery, and ground beef, the sauce is delicious with any pasta and extremely cozy.

Ultimately, the holidays are the perfect time to appreciate the foods and meals you make with your family, and foods are the perfect way to celebrate and reminisce with your loved ones. Experimenting with new foods can bring newfound senses of happiness and excitement, as well as comfort from familiar meals. When you find yourself overwhelmed with the cold and darkness this winter, food can be the best thing to warm you up.