Amazon.com Review
The meaning of family and holiday tradition has shifted over time until many of us are no longer sure what it is. We know simply that we want and need both. To help us recreate holiday rituals with personal resonance, Ronni Lundy, in
The Festive Table, summarizes the essential, primal energy underlying 11 major holidays from Thanksgiving and Passover to Kwanzaa and Easter, plus lesser occasions. Sharing her own history plus traditions gleaned from interviewing other families, she presents a world of ways to celebrate holidays. Food as a festive meal plays a key role in all of them, as much a part of the spiritual experience as it is sustenance. As details of each family's traditions accumulate, remarkable similarities within our varied religious, cultural and individual traditions emerge, along with quirky, culinary uniqueness. To someone, somewhere, it's just not New Year's Eve or Rosh Hashonnah or the annual pig roast without tamales, won tons perfumed with tangerine zest, pickled ginger mayonnaise or some other dish unimaginable to anyone outside that tradition.
From Library Journal
Intrigued by the idea of how the changing concept of the family must be affecting the way holidays are celebrated, Lundy interviewed people around the country to find out what new or old traditions are important to them. A food columnist and cookbook author, she describes different approaches to Thanksgiving and the Fourth of July, religious celebrations, newer holidays like Kwanzaa, and such events as The Hotdish Doldrums Dance. Lundy writes well, and the recipes?from the people she talked to and her own files?are good and eclectic. A tamale party for New Year's Eve offers Green-Chile Cornbread, Fiery Guacamole, and lots of tamales; there's both a Cajun Thanksgiving and a vegetarian one; a midsummer "Pig Party" serves not only roast pig but also Jerk Chicken, Tropical Shrimp, and three kinds of ice cream for a real feast. Entertaining reading with lots of mouth-watering recipes, this is recommended for most collections.
Copyright 1995 Reed Business Information, Inc.
