Food and Funerals
In almost every culture, and every
point in time, food has always played a major role in funerals,
funerary rites, and death in general. From grave goods like breads
and wines so that the soul may carry full bellies in the after life,
to the Turning of the Bones ceremonies where bones of those long
since past and brought out, cleaned and given a place at the table
with food and drink like the living. How often is it then when
someone dies, everyone seems to supply the grieving family with foods
like casseroles? It only seems natural to provide food.
Some places have superstitions that
when a person dies in a house all foods of a certain type need to be
removed from the house or the foods will go bad. In Brittany, an area
of Northwestern France, it is believed that if a person dies of
cancer, you are to place a dish of butter near the body so that the
cancer will leach into the butter. Then after a short period of time
the butter is removed from the house so that no surviving family
members will contract the disease.
When we thing of celebrations and food
we mainly think about weddings, but most caterers say that more food
is eaten at a funeral then at a wedding. Why is that? Is it a jab to
death that the living are doing one act that the deceased can no
longer do? Or is it drowning our sorrows in cakes, sandwiches, and
libations?
Regardless the link between food and
funerals is very close. There are even foods that are reserved for
funerals exclusively. Below you will see a recipe for Amish Funeral
Pie. This is a simple food, with simple preparation, but a long
history of being associated with being an only funeral food. There
are also many variations of this pie, just like there are a lot of
variations of funeral cakes from Belgium to Norway to Creole style.
What kinds of foods have you
experienced at funerals? What recipe do you have that is a comfort or
funeral food? We would like to know your story about the food, and
share a recipe too.
Funeral Pie- Amish
- Prep 30 m
- Cook 45 m
- Ready In 4 h 15 m
Ingredients
1/4 teaspoon ground allspice
1 pinch salt
1 tablespoon cider vinegar
3 tablespoons unsalted butter
- 1 recipe pastry for a 9 inch single crust pie
Directions
Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F
(205 degrees C). Line a pan with half the pastry and chill.
Place the raisins and 2/3 cup of
the water in a saucepan and heat over medium heat for 5 minutes.
Combine the sugars, cornstarch,
spices, and salt in a bowl and, mixing all the time, slowly add the
remaining water. Add this mixture to the heating raisins. Cook and
stir until the mixture starts to bubble. Add the vinegar and butter
and heat until the butter is melted. Cool until room temperature.
- Pour into the prepared shell and top with the second crust.
Bake 25 minutes or until golden. Cool completely before serving.
