Traditional Wedding Foods You Shouldnt Pass Up by Sandra Garson

Introduction

The joy of a marriage is celebrated everywhere in the world with sweet-filled festivity that features foods rich not only in ingredients and cost but symbolism. Certain dishes are specifically served at weddings to emphasize both the sheer delight of the occasion and the hope that fertility and prosperity come next. In Morocco, guests are greeted with a plate of dates that represent the sweet smoothness of life, and a glass of milk that signifies the safety of family and the happiness that comes from being nourished. In the Philippines, guests are served suman, a very sticky rice cake wrapped in coconut leaves that signals the gluing and wrapping together of two lives. Long noodles called kuk soo are served at Korean weddings to express hope that the newlyweds share a long life, and dessert may be yak shik, sticky rice sweetened with brown sugar and doused with raisins, pine nuts, and chestnuts, because these represent fertility.

Sandra Garson is the author of Veggiyana, the Dharma of Cooking and How to Fix a Leek and Other Food From Your Farmers’ Market. As a longtime student of Tibetan Buddhism and well-known cook for Dharma centers from Maine to Mongolia, she became the first food historian to explore the Buddha’s influence on how the world now eats. This led to exploration of more religious beliefs about food.

Honey

Honey is a powerful marriage symbol everywhere, the sure sign of its momentary sweetness. While the officiating priest recites blessing mantras at a Hindu wedding, the bride’s parents welcome the groom by offering Madhuparka, yogurt mixed with honey. Honey makes accepting the marriage sweet and yogurt promises strong health. The common Moroccan wedding dessert, almond and honey briouats-- fillo cornets of almond paste scented with orange flower water and drenched with honey—are meant to start the marriage sweetly but also nobly because almonds and orange flower water are considered the exalted foods of royalty. Sephardic Jewish weddings in the Middle Eastern tradition serve sutlach, a sweet rice pudding made from coconut milk, honey, and almonds to represent a sweet, prosperous life

Irish Catholics pour mead, particularly mead made using honey, because ancient Celts equated honey with virility. Some historians believe this is the origin of our word honeymoon.

Almonds

Because almond trees are the first to respond to the warmth of the spring sun, sending out blossoms that burst even before leaves appear, they represent the magical renewal of life. In Greek mythology they became the symbol of immortal, forever re-blossoming love, so in Greece, Italy and along the southern Mediterranean, almonds are a marriage must-do. They are sometimes offered at German weddings too because almonds are associated with fertility.

Most wedding almonds are candy-coated “Jordan almonds” in keeping with a tradition that supposedly originated in ancient Rome, where honey-covered almonds from trees native to the banks of the River Jordan were served at festivities. In the 15th century, when sugar became common, the nuts were coated in pastel colors. The "bitter" nuts with bright sugar coating stand for the bittersweet of married life or the bitterness of life now with the sweet coating of love. They come in little bags with an odd number of almonds since odd numbers are indivisible, as guests wish the couple to be. In Italy each bag contains five almonds, representing wishes for health, happiness, fertility, prosperity and longevity.

Cake

The wedding cake we recognize is less than 100 years old, the result of refrigeration and electric beaters, but it has traditional symbolism. White icing represents the bride’s purity; decorative fresh flowers symbolize springtime, the season of new life; and multiple layers—usually three—stand for two large families and now a small one. Saving that little top layer to celebrate the new family’s first anniversary or first child’s christening started in Medieval England. Guests would bring something sweet to newlyweds and as the cakes piled up, the couple would reserve the top one for themselves to sweeten their next milestone. Of course the only sweet that could last a year or more without a freezer was dense fruitcake, so the rum and brandy soaked confection was the wedding cake. The nuts, honey-dried fruits and marzipan in the batter symbolized fertility and prosperity. (Some brides took to counting the raisins in their piece to foretell how many children they would have.) Wedding fruitcake is still so traditional in England, Prince William and Katherine had one, encased in sugary white icing.