Books Bygone

Friday, December 16, 2011

Christmas is coming. It's time to bake some vanočka!

Merry Christmas (in Czech)!

Unbeknownst to me before I met Mr. Big Food many years ago, Texas has a large population of folks of Czech decent. Count Mr. Big Food's Mom among them. Both her grandmother and grandfather were born in Czechoslovakia. The Czech's have a rich food heritage. Needless to say, this heritage has found its way into Mr. Big Food's Big Food Manual and Survivalist Flourishing Guide which contains (among many other things) recipes for  "Tex-Czech and Tex-Central European foods, handed down from Gran, Tait, and other “old timers” from the Dallas SPJST." 

Because it's Christmas time, Mr. Big Food's Mom and her son will soon be making a vanočka! 

Prepared for vanočka
 I'll post the recipe soon so you, too, can enjoy some Czech vanočka!

UPDATED to correct multiple errors brought to my attention by Mr. Big Food's Dad!

5 comments:

  1. Aw c'mon....

    You're going to try and tell me that the Czechs have _pecans_????

    I think I don't believe it!

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  2. TEXAS Czech have lots of pecans! They've adapted.

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  3. Please note the update. ERRORS have been corrected.

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  4. My husband's great grandfather was one of the Hessian troops brought over to Mexico by Maximillian. (I'm not entirely clear who was fighting whom. I know the native Mexicans won.) As you know, it turned out to be a one way trip. No return trip tickets were issued.

    Many of the abandoned troops went north - they were among the first wetbacks. My husband's great grandfather settled in Georgia, went back to Austria to bring back a wife and made America his permanent home.

    Even knowing that, we were very surprised when we visited in San Antonio to see the frequency of German names. Apparently Great grandfather was not alone - but some of his compatriots didn't worry about getting too far once they got across the border.

    Did I mention that I picked up the Better Homes and Gardens "Heritage Cook Book"? It includes discussion and recipes for the many foods that came with various migrations of people who came as immigrants* and settled in areas that frequently became known for the foods the immigrants brought with them and how they incorporated native foods into their own cooking. Neat book. Sort of a food history book.

    *It starts with a discussion of the native Indian three sisters foods - beans, corn and squash - that were pretty much what was available when the Pilgrims arrived.

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  5. "Did I mention that I picked up the Better Homes and Gardens "Heritage Cook Book"?"

    You did mention this very early on. I know what you mean about the Germans and Texas. We went to Fredericksburg yesterday. I had bratwurst and spaetzle for lunch!

    There used to be a term used to describe just what you are saying about incorporating ... ... ... think. Right.

    Melting pot.

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