What Is AUP Having for the Holidays?

With winter break rapidly approaching, we are all buried in work and exams, but the promise of holiday celebrations reminds us to keep our spirits high. We spoke with some AUP students about the recipes they are most looking forward to eating this season.

Sarmale

Anca Raicea’s favorite thing to eat at Christmas is her mom’s Sarmale, a Romanian dish made of ground meat and cabbage. The cabbage leaves are stuffed with a mixture of ground meat and seasoning then cooked. Anca says that her mom is always the one who makes them and she spends the year looking forward to eating them. “It is the most Christmasy food for Romanians, a lot of other cultures have their own version of this as well.”

Tomato Tarts

Clay Wilson told us about the mini tomato pies that her mom makes every winter with homemade pie crust and filling baked in a cupcake tin. “I’m honestly not sure what’s in them, I don’t need to know. They’re just really good.” Clay also isn’t sure where she got this recipe but said that her mom grew up eating them in North Carolina. “It’s a winter recipe and now that all the kids have moved out, we only eat them over winter break.”

Maple glazed brussel sprouts

Ruby Shaw’s favorite thing to eat and make around the holidays is maple-glazed brussel sprouts. She makes them with her mom with their home-made maple syrup, bacon and cranberries. Shaw says, “It’s a fun way to incorporate veggies in our holiday dinners!”

Lefse

Sterling Knight loves eating Lefse, a Norwegian potato dish made during the wintertime. She makes them with her family the traditional way, covered in butter and sugar and rolled up to eat still warm. Sterling says that they are a traditional winter food but that she and her family make them whenever they have a craving for them, she grew up making them with her cousins and family.

Gingerbread and sugar cookies

Zara Atiku-Abubakar always looks forward to making, decorating and, of course, eating gingerbread and sugar cutouts. She makes them with friends and family around the holidays as a sweet treat to enjoy.

Camembert Roti

Flew Craig loves when their grandmother makes baked camembert for the holidays. Their family hollows out a loaf of bread and puts the camembert inside, around the bread they roast potatoes and apples to dip in the melty baked cheese. With the leftovers, they make camembert soup!

Lussebullar

Yelena Menard’s all time favorite thing to eat during the holidays is the Swedish saffron buns called Lussebullar. They are traditionally shaped like an S with two raisins in the curves and became a holiday tradition because of the high prices of spices, saffron became an ingredient used only for special occasions, such as Christmas. Yelena and her mom make them every year and love to share with family and friends. “If you go to the Swedish Institute in the next few weeks they will be selling them!”

Feijoada

Marina Lefundes always looks forward to eating the very traditional Brazilian dish with her family. Made of black beans, pork, and spices, she says that is one of her favorite things to eat.

AUP students come from so many different places around the world all with their own traditions and recipes. As finals wrap up consider trying one of these recipes for your holiday celebrations or just for fun to enjoy our much-deserved break from classes!