【大纪元2014年12月04日讯】圣诞节是加拿大人，无论老少也最爱的节日。这是个与家人朋友、旧识新交、同学同事们共同庆祝的时光，亦是给予和分享美好愿望的日子。 圣诞食品是必然的。我们的家族随着家庭成员的成长和嫁娶日惭扩大之下，带来了来自本市的、省内外与国内国外其他地方的新成员，同时也带来了新的风俗和文化。 我家曾在不同的城市省份渡圣诞，喜欢结交新朋友，自然乐意学习他们的圣诞习俗。
最早有关圣诞节的记忆，是和住在卑诗维多利亚市但生于英格兰的祖父母享用的一顿圣诞大餐。晚餐的主角是一只祖母亲手烤至金黄色、味美可口的巨大火鸡，被孩子们的笑脸、烛光、精致的瓷器和银器、圣诞节饼干围衬着。我家圣诞大餐的传统，几十年不曾改变。 也许配菜有少许更新变化，但欢乐气氛与充满节日特色的美馔，年年圣诞节必然奉上。这是纪念我们双亲和祖父母，也延续着我们家族的传统。
金黄色的烤火鸡放在圣诞大餐桌上的中央。尽管我们一整天都不停在吃节日糕点、坚果、烟熏三文鱼及其他美味的小吃，但那股满室飘香的烤火鸡香气不住挑逗着我们的食欲，正好为圣诞大餐作好准备！
我们那张大桌子这时候总会伸张至极限，因为会有城中亲戚、朋友和圣诞“孤儿”（未能回到在远方的家者）加入。除了最重要的火鸡外，餐桌上还有土豆泥、小椰菜、祖母的的地道英式芜菁胡萝卜泥、酿火鸡的面包馅、蔓越梅酱和大量的火鸡酱汁。甜品是传统英式火焰李子干布丁、干果蛋糕、提子干馅饼、牛油松饼、杂色圣诞曲奇和坚果。大人喝的是香槟、红酒和白酒；给小孩子们的是艳红色的蔓越梅果汁。
虽然我家吃的圣诞大餐总是传统的烤火鸡，但其他家庭会吃烤鹅、三文鱼和汁润的焗牛排骨。近年来，我们餐桌上也会因不吃肉或吃全素的朋友而出现一些美味又应节的南瓜大麦菠菜派、蜜汁胡萝卜、蘑菇和榛子挞等来款待他们。
享用大餐之前，我们先做感恩祷告，然后打开“圣诞拉炮”，里面有纸帽子、各人要轮流读出的笑话、小玩具或者谜语。每个人戴上纸帽子，读笑话，然后就开始享用大餐。
圣诞前夕也是特别的。我们有时去拜访的一些在圣诞前夕而非圣诞节当天庆祝的朋友。法裔加拿大朋友会分享用碎猪肉和小牛肉做馅的又香又厚的焗五香肉派。丹麦的朋友会烹调烤鸭和红卷心菜及特色大米布丁。
圣诞前夕，不少朋友会去教堂做圣诞礼拜。到了晚上，一家人聚在一块唱圣诞歌曲，享用1或2杯草果奶蛋酒（Eggnog）。孩子们就寝前，先把袜子悬挂起来，并给圣诞老人准备牛奶和饼干。
你知道吗，我们吃的许多圣诞食品都源自其他国家。牛油松饼（Shortbread cookies）来自苏格兰，姜饼（Gingerbread）来自美国，佛罗伦天干果酥（Florentines）来自意大利，白兰地脆饼（Brandy snaps）和干果蛋糕源自英格兰。奶蛋酒（Eggnog）始于中世纪的英格兰，士多伦(Stollen)（一种杏仁糖粉铺面的干果糕）源自德国。烹那通(Panettone)（布满果干的甜糕）源自意大利，瓯柑（Tangerines）则来自中国。
圣诞节是分享和庆祝，尤其是美食和美酒的节日! @
————–
宁姨“加”厨
宁姨简介
生长在一个军人家庭的宁姨(Judith Lane) 乃卑诗省知名的美食及酒文作家，现定居温哥华。曾先后居住在四个省份和育空地区，也游访过加拿大多个大小城镇。她除了是温哥华太阳报Grapevine及Gayot.com论酒专栏博客，亦经常为The Georgia Straight、Taste等报章媒体撰写文章，更是美酒佳肴赛事的常任评委。
================
Epoch Times: Canadian Food Lane November 2014
A Canadian Christmas
By Judith Lane
Christmas is the most beloved holiday of Canadians, young and old. It’s a time of celebrating with family and friends, old and new, and school and work mates too. It’s a time of giving, sharing and good will that starts early in December.
Food features prominently. As our families grow and expand, new family members come to us through marriage from other parts of the city, country or beyond our borders, bringing new customs that we add to the mix.
Our family celebrated Christmas in many cities in different provinces. Sometimes we were close to family but more often we were far away. We were used to making new friends and liked learning how they celebrated the holidays.
My earliest Christmas memory was a Christmas dinner with our British-born grandparents–Gram and Pop–in Victoria, B.C. The star of dinner was an enormous turkey that my grandmother had roasted to delicious, golden perfection. That dinner was special. Happy faces, laughing kids, candlelight, the best china and silverware, Christmas crackers and our traditional family Christmas dinner that has varied little over the decades.
Serving the same special meal (there are slight variations and new additions of course) each Christmas is a way of honouring our parents and grandparents, and continuing family traditions.
The centerpiece of our Christmas dinner is the golden turkey. Although we nibble on Christmas baking, nuts, smoked salmon, and other decadent appetisers throughout the day, the smell of roasting turkey wafting through the house sharpens our appetites for the main event.
We set a large table because there are often relatives in town that join us, and an assortment of friends and Christmas ‘orphans’–those who are far from family and can’t make it home. Some will bring a favourite Christmas dish to share, which will grace the table and our plates. Aside from the all-important turkey, our Christmas dinner includes mashed potatoes, Brussels sprouts, Gram’s amazing (and very English) mashed turnips and carrots, bread stuffing, cranberry sauce and plenty of gravy. Dessert is a traditional flaming English plum pudding and there is fruitcake, mincemeat tarts, shortbread and beautifully decorated cookies, and nuts too. Champagne is drunk throughout the meal as well as red and white wines with ruby-red cranberry juice for the little ones.
While we always cook a traditional turkey for Christmas dinner, other families enjoy roast goose, salmon, or a juicy prime rib roast beef. These days, there are often vegans and vegetarians at our table. There will be no tasteless ‘tofurkey’ for them but instead a delicious and festive layered squash, barley and spinach pie or a glazed carrot, mushroom and hazelnut tart.
Before we eat, grace is said and there are Christmas crackers to open. Inside are festive paper hats that everyone wears, jokes that we take turns reading aloud, and a little toy or puzzle. Then we feast.
Christmas Eve is special too. Sometimes we visit friends who celebrate Christmas Eve instead of Christmas Day. Our French Canadian friends will share tourtière, a traditional spiced meat pie made with ground pork and veal. Our Danish friends serve a roast duck with red cabbage and a special rice pudding.
Some of us attend church on Christmas Eve for a special Christmas service. Later in the evening, the family gathers to sing Christmas carols and enjoy a glass or two of eggnog. Just before bed, children hang up their stockings and leave milk and cookies for Santa Claus.
Did you know that many of the things we eat at Christmas originate in other lands? Shortbread cookies come from Scotland, gingerbread from Armenia, florentines from Italy, and brandy snaps and fruitcake from England. Eggnog dates back to Medieval England, stolen–a fruit bread with marzipan (almond paste)–is German, panettone, a fruit-studded sweet bread is Italian, and tangerines are from China.
Christmas is a season of sharing and celebrating, especially with food and drink.
