Holiday food for feasting

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Illustraded by: Danielle Medina

Holiday foods of different traditions.

Danielle Medina, Reporter

It must be the holidays when everyone gathers at the table, waiting for a hot steamy bowl of menudo with buttered toasted bread. Holiday food warms the heart and makes everyone feel at home.

Everyone enjoys the holidays and holiday food even if each culture has its own. Chinese teacher Jing Li grew up in Beijing, the capital city of China. She remembers the holiday food she enjoyed for Chinese New Year.

“Dumplings are my favorite holiday food. They’re made of vegetables and meat inside as fillings, and the wrappers are made of flour, then you boil the dumplings. We lived in an apartment and all our family members gather around the table as we made dumplings and ate,” Li said.

For Thanksgiving each family has its own traditions.

“For Thanksgiving my family and I cook the turkey differently from other families. Instead of putting the turkey into the oven, we put the turkey into a smoker that my father had made. We also make a bonfire and gather around with our meals and enjoy,” Nutrition food and science teacher Cynthia Delgado said.

Some are fortunate enough to travel the world and enjoy holiday in other places, but there really is no place like home when it comes to holiday food.

“Most of my culture’s food tends to be fried and spicy, which I most prefer,” Sergeant Melissa Brown-Dinkins said. Brown-Dinkins served in the United States Army and traveled to Korea twice, Alaska, Washington, Louisiana, Arizona, and Illinois.

People who move get a different taste of the foods that surround them.

Tamales, Chocolate de Abuelita, and menudo have been the holiday foods I really like since I moved from California to El Paso,” sophomore  Amaris Gonzalez said.

Holiday foods can turn a gathering into a bonding moment.

“I don’t like it when things are too commercial. Christmas is my favorite holiday and I believe food is what brings all of us together. Around the fire we eat tamales, and champurrado which is a drink that tastes good with some buñuelos. This is what the holidays are about, it’s sharing the moments with your family and having a great meal,” Spanish teacher Patricia Recovo said.