Happy Easter !…

+ Happy Ham 🍖 (& Pineapple 🍍!) Day too…

When it comes to Easter in America, over time ham and deviled eggs became menu essentials for a traditional holiday spread….

Culinary Colleague, Donna Battle Pierce, a Chicago-based food journalist and test kitchen director, talks often about the “(glazed) ham & (deviled or hard boiled) eggs” Easter tradition that’s held among many African American families …

across multiple geographies and over the course of several generations.

She points to the writings of legendary cookbook author

  Freda DeKnight, who was also EBONY magazine’s first food editor in the 1940s-50s. “If it is not lamb, it must be ham, for those meats are definitely an Easter Sunday tradition,” wrote Freda DeKnight about an Easter holiday dinner menu in her “A Date With a Dish” cookbook. “For luck and good eating, plan your menu around a delicious baked ham and gaily colored hard-boiled eggs.” I agree whole heartedly with Pierce (via my own experience, theories AND exhaustive research that although deviled eggs have deep European origins—dating back to ancient Rome— early African-Americans cooks most certainly put their spin on the recipe, calling for the inclusion of pickle juice and other tart , tangy flavorful condiments (e.g. mustard variations, pickled peppers…) and of course that “same sour, briny juice your grandmother hoarded in jarfuls which had long been a popular ]avoring agent in many African-American kitchens” … plus the added reality that Black American women were award-winning picklers and fermenters as I’ve discovered when studying icons like Abby Fisher , Anne Northup and and Edna Lewis…

Cheers to A ‘Colorful Cocktails’ Party & Toast to Spring!..

— Cheers to Easter-egg colored cocktails… I’ve always loved the radiant tradition of dyeing eggs for Easter … so I decided to try out a fun new tradition for the big kids (of legal drinking age) by showcasing a vibrantly colorful yet all- natural refreshing line up of vividly technicolor libations……

…Last year Easter fell on March 31st which is “Oranges & Lemons Day” annually

FYI one of the perks for my paid Patreon supporters is the opportunity to access more info or food & drink history on the topics they find interesting. Join my PATREON and i’ll see you over there where you can get much more scoop — or the skinny!…

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