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A French-American Family’s Christmas Culinary Journey
Blending Traditions: From Foie Gras to Choucroute Garni, a Tale of Heritage and Holiday Feasts
My family's Christmas traditions are steeped in a blend of warmth, joy, and nostalgia. Christmas Eve is the highlight, a festive gathering with friends and family where laughter and conversation flow as freely as the wine. The table glimmers with an array of luxurious dishes: Christmas goose stuffed with chestnuts, oysters, fragrant truffles, and rich foie gras, each bite a celebration of the season.
In years gone by, this feast was preceded by the solemn beauty of Midnight Mass, a cherished ritual that lent an air of reverence to the night’s festivities.
It is a most important matter,” he said, “this bringing home of the cacho-fio. The whole family must take part in it. The head of the family–the grandfather, the father, or the eldest son–must cut the tree; all the others must share in carrying home the log that is to make the Christmas fire. And the tree must be a fruit-bearing tree. With us, it usually is an almond or an olive. The olive especially is sacred. Our people, getting their faith from their Greek ancestors, believe that lightning never strikes it. But an apple tree or a pear tree will serve the purpose, and up in the Alp region they…
