To be perfectly honest, today’s post is a rerun of a previous “Edibles & Potables,” occasioned in part by the nostalgia unleashed last week at “Hip Hops.” Also, the week before Christmas can be very slow in terms of food and dining news. But if you missed this one previously, enjoy.
Hip Hops: Long ago and far away in Slovakia
My Christmas season in 1991 was spent in the city of Košice (KOSH-it-sə) Czechoslovakia, population circa 225,000, located near the Ukraine in what is now independent Slovakia.
I was teaching conversational English to doctors and nurses in Košice’s teaching hospital under the auspices of a post-Cold War program called Education for Democracy, and thanks to the abundant generosity of my students, several holiday visits to their homes were booked well in advance.
Each Christmas season, ever since then, I think about the big blue plastic tubs that began apearing on street corners in the city shortly before the holiday. They piqued my curiosity, especially when I saw fish swimming in them. My students gleefully explained: those aren’t mere fish, they’re kapr, “carp” to Americans, and they’re not just carp — they’re Christmas dinner!
Why do Central Europeans in general, and Czech and Slovaks in particular, eat carp for Christmas?
Some say the practice owes to old-fashioned rituals of Catholic fasting, while others point to the long tradition of aquaculture, or freshwater fishponds, in places like Southern Bohemia (Czech Republic). Another explanation is the lower price point of carp, compared to beef or pork. Not unexpectedly, there’s more to the story, because bottom-feeders need their baths, too.
Carp for Christmas? The odd Central European tradition explained (Kafkadesk)
But if you thought eating carp was the strangest part of the tradition, you’re in for a surprise. What’s truly odd is what comes before: per tradition, families usually buy the carps alive a few days before Christmas in one of the many carp stalls or stands that can be found in cities throughout December… and then put the fish in their very own bathtub.
While Americans with a taste for history might be familiar with our national legacy of bathtub gin, the notion of bathtub carp is very different. Everything Czech goes into greater detail.
Czech Christmas Traditions: There’s a Carp...Read more
