Rye Bread and New Year’s Day Traditions

New Year’s Day traditions are specific to different cultures around the world. A new year, a new beginning, and hopes for a healthy and prosperous year seem to be common themes for us all. I’m not a new year’s resolution kind of person as I try to modify my life as I see the need; however, I do tend to carry out cultural food traditions on New Year’s Day. This year, I decided to go rogue a bit… not anti-culture, but an attempt to see the world through food on New Year’s Day… maybe this international view will set the tone for cultural understandings, not just this day but all other days to come.

Why do we eat what we do and how does that relate to the rest of the world? Ironically, in my search I discovered that the foods we eat for luck, health, fortune, prosperity, etc. tend to be similar around the world. For example, southern Americans may think black-eyed peas are only specific to southern Americans; however, did you know the Egyptians during the times of Pharaohs ate them, too?

My New Year’s Day food ingredients transcend what I used to think was just my culture… it is the culture of many… peas or lentils, collard greens or cabbage, smoked salmon or herring; they all serve the same purpose.

This year’s menu celebrated many different cultures… let’s see who and for what reasons…

• Finnish, German, Swedish Rye Bread – leads to a healthy lifestyle as rye is a good source of nutrients to include fiber, manganese, copper, magnesium, phosphorous, B-complex vitamins, and many other vitamins and minerals that are not found in white or other breads. Since rye has a lower glycemic index than other grains, it breaks down more slowly causing you to feel full faster and longer. It also requires less insulin to control blood glucose levels. Maybe opt for the rye bread this year (if you’re not gluten sensitive).
• Italian and German Pork – represents prosperity and wealth since pigs are unable to look back physically, always looking to the future (progress).
• American, Egyptian, and West African Black-eyed peas (or lentils in India, Italy, Greece, Brazil, Czech, and Hungary and beans in Argentina)– Egyptians believed black-eyed peas represented a meager food that demonstrated humility before God (if eaten). In America, it is wealth as they resemble coins. In India and Italy and other countries, lentils represent coins while beans represent professional success in Argentina.
• Asian, Greek, Italian, Native American, and Scandinavian Smoke salmon (herring is traditional) – represents abundance since there are so many fish in the sea
• African, American, and German greens (sauerkraut/cabbage, too from Hungary, Poland, and Czech) – represent money (green) and health since they prevented scurvy and aided in digestion.
• American, Indian, or Korean rice (noodles in other Asian countries) – while rice represents fertility and wealth, long noodles represent longevity.

Let’s start with the rye bread. Aside from its awesome health benefits described above, rye is an ancient grain adaptable to different types of soil. It is thought that rye was domesticated from its weed form in Syria as early as 6600 BC; it later made its way to Turkey, Poland, and Romania. It continued to spread from there. It grows well in colder climates like Scandinavian countries and Europe (northern and eastern).

In Finland, it has been cultivated over 2,000 years and is the country’s staple bread, though typically lighter than German rye and less sweet than Swedish rye. A traditional Finnish rye bread can be stored and last for months.

Easy peasy yeasted rye bread, NO KNEADING required. The recipe I used is from a cookbook a friend gave me a couple of years ago. It is a no knead bread book called “Bread Toast Crumbs” by Alexandra Stafford (see link on title for details about the book). The recipes in this book are incredible and produce flavorful bread with little effort. I am not a spokesperson for this cookbook but having made multiple recipes, I am certainly a big fan. I basically followed the recipe with a slight modification. Alexandra deserves the credit, but I will post my slightly changed version of her recipe.

Ingredients needed:

Toppings for the rye bread: Herbed Cream Cheese and Smoked Salmon

Black-eyed pea soup: This is an adaptation of Food Network’s Black-eyed Peas Soup recipe. My adaptations are described below with accompanying photos.

New Year’s Day food thoughts…

This is one my favorite New Year’s Day meals. The soup is light and contains lots of vegetables complete with meat and peas. The sharp cheddar on top adds a bit of creaminess/ richness. The homemade rye bread with caraway seeds is light and holds up well with the cream cheese mixture and salty smoked salmon. You can certainly toast the rye bread for a nice crunch, though I did not. Although this is an easy meal to prepare, it certainly seemed elegant and indulgent. Let’s talk about basic nutrition. Whole grain dark rye, calcium from the dairy, Omega 3 fatty acids from the salmon, the nutrients from the variety of vegetables, and so much more. You really can have your cake and eat it too. What a way to start the new year!

With a new year on the horizon, it was interesting connecting cultural traditions around the world with such a simple meal; are we really so different when we have such similar thought processes and beliefs regardless of place and time. With such a perspective gained from a traditional meal, maybe we’re off to a good start; even if traditions are nothing more than past down routines and beliefs… if we’re all doing it, hmmm… is there more to be said…

Happy New Year!