From seafood to sweets to family soups, holiday dishes bring back memories and traditions.
By: C. DeMartini
The first thing one notices when stepping into a home during the upcoming Christmas season isn’t the tree or the lights, but the smell. Some houses are filled with the scent of cookies cooling on trays, while others carry the scent of big family dinners. No matter what’s cooking, food is a way families mark the season and pass down traditions.
For three CSI students, traditions show up in simple but meaningful ways. Their favorite Christmas foods tell stories of where they come from and who they celebrate with.
To Abigail Zapinsky, a senior at CSI, Christmas food means seafood and family traditions. When asked what her what her favorite food to eat around Christmas was, she answered right away.
“Oh 100% fried calamari or stuffed shrimp,” said Zapinsky.“Yeah, my family it’s what we always make for Christmas Eve, so it instantly puts me in a holiday mood and brings back memories making it with my pop pop.”
For Zapinsky, the smells, the sounds of cooking, and laughter in the kitchen all make the seafood feel like it is more than just food.
Now, it is a tradition that connects her to her family in the past holidays and the future holidays to come. Every Christmas Eve, Zapinsky helps her family prepare the dishes and learns new tips and tricks from her father.
Across neighborhoods, holiday meals look different depending on family backgrounds and memories connected to certain dishes. For some, the season feels incomplete without seafood or baked dishes. Others wait all year for desserts that only appear during December.
Junior Alanna Silvestre’s favorite Christmas dish is rabanadas, a Brazilian-style French toast often covered in sugar and cinnamon. While it can be eaten any time of year, it only appears in her home during the holidays.
“The first year my mom made them me and my family were so shocked that they were so good, ever since that we have it every year,” said Silvestre. “Having them during the holidays became a family tradition, my favorite one, I can just taste them thinking about it.”
Another senior, Jean Coppola, shared that her holiday traditions are deeply tied to her Italian heritage. Every Christmas since she was a kid, she has eaten tortellini soup, and it remains the dish she looks forward to most.
“It was always my Nonna who made it,” said Coppola. “After she passed, my dad took over the recipe, so it still feels like her, and I still feel connected.”
Holiday food traditions vary, but they each reflect pieces of family identity and history. Some dishes come from years and years before, while others start from one moment then becomes a memory shared for the next years. Whether seafood or sweets, the foods served in December help the holidays that are to come for every family.
“It just hits different on Christmas Eve and now wouldn’t feel like Christmas time without it” said Zapinsky. “It is the one thing that brings my whole family to the table every year where we share the same memories.
