Traditional Easter Foods For A Special Celebration
What Traditional Easter Foods Do You Have on Your Festive Table?
Before listing a few traditional Easter foods, let’s take a minute and recap why a big part of the world celebrates Easter.
Easter – Meaning and a Brief History
Easter is the Christian celebration of Jesus’ resurrection three days after his horrific killing by human fellows.
Chronologically (according to the Bible), Easter or Passover in Hebrew has been celebrated 1500 years before Jesus’ time, since the Israelites’ liberation from Egypt.
Etymologically, the Latin word for Easter – Pascha, of Aramaic origins – is at the base of the names for this religious holiday in all Latin languages today (Paşte in Romanian, Pasqua in Italian, Pâques in French, Pascua in Spanish and Páscoa in Portuguese.)
The English word is newer and has Anglo-Saxon roots leading back to a Teuton goddess, Eostrae, to whom people offered sacrifices around the spring equinox.
Historically, Jesus’ crucifixion happened around Passover. In a desperate attempt to maintain their power and domination over a large chunk of the world as they knew it, the Romans provided the context to the only known miracle: the resurrection from the death of one man they feared would undermine their dominance. The greed for evermore power is such a human peculiarity!
What boggles the mind is that a few centuries later, the same Romans have set the foundations of a whole new religion on the same atrocious event they allowed to happen in the first place out of fear of losing power! Idiosyncratic – another synonym for uncanny! Oh, how I love words and their meaning!
The exact date of the crucifixion is shrouded in controversy. As a result, this year, I will celebrate Easter a month later than most of you since the Christian Orthodox religion has set the date a week apart from the Catholic one. Humans do funny things, especially if they have a certain degree of power; who am I to judge?
I’m not even going there. Anyone curious can read mountains of books, search all lost and recently found Dead Sea scrolls, and put together all the missing pieces.
To some, history (if recorded accurately and without bias) might matter more than a form of mass control and manipulation or another. However, many agree that there might be a force that keeps the universes out of chaos, whatever people call it. Let’s not forget that religions have changed often and have been either monotheistic or polytheistic in human history. This was people’s choosing, as it fitted them and the interests of those in power.
History, though, has a habit of repeating itself. I briefly mentioned the similarities between Mithras or Zalmoxis and Jesus in my posts about time travel and autumn walk. Likewise, new beliefs overlapped or adopted and modified old ones over time. But there must be an origin to everything.
Humankind has seen a few crucial turning points, and we might very well face a new one. Sadly, we also have a habit of not learning from mistakes; hence, history always gets a chance to repeat itself.
Although the new generations gradually show less interest in religion, the historical and anthropological facts remain beyond the myths.
A Holiday Important Enough to Deserve Traditional Easter Foods
Since we still have a reason to celebrate Easter, what better way to contemplate our fate as a species than through enjoying our traditional Easter foods?
Thanks to a few fellow food bloggers, I put together a few traditional Easter recipes from different parts of the world. Hopefully, they will inspire you to cook or bake something other than what you traditionally prepare for the Easter feast.
Whatever you choose to make, please take a minute to think of our religious holidays’ meaning beyond consumerism and, whatever you believe, remember that kindness does not cost money, although it is priceless!
Happy Easter!
Traditional or Fun Easter Foods For A Special Celebration
Pasca: A Traditional Romanian Easter Cake
Recipe provided by theworldisanoyster.com
Pasca is a specific Romanian Easter cake filled with sweet cheese and raisins. The recipe consists of a basic Romanian cozonac dough or the Italian version of it, Panettone, with added sweet cheese filling.
Simple Easter Egg Sugar Cookies
Recipe provided by buttercreamparties.com
The sure way to impress little people and adults alike is by offering them cute cookies. Find your favourite buttercream cookie tutorial and more ideas for Easter on the website.
Pastiera Napoletana
Recipe provided by cucchiarella.com
An absolute delight, this Italian Easter cake is based on a beautiful marine legend. Check the website for all things Italian, mouth-watering goodies.
Cozonac
Recipe provided by theworldisanoyster.com
This special festive nut and fruit-filled treat has plenty of history and goodness. At Easter, the Romanians would bake enough loaves to feed an army, although only the family and guests would indulge! Cozonac is to us the best among all the Easter foods we will have on the festive table!
Easter Crack Toffee Candy
Recipe provided by homeatcedarspringsfarm.com
Try an easy dessert that will bring spring colours to your festive Easter table. This treat requires only two ingredients and imagination to decorate it.
Traditional German Easter Bread with Marzipan and Almonds
Recipe provided by mydinner.co.uk
Are you feeling artistic? Have a go at a beautiful wreath bread with a rich history behind it and a step by step tutorial. Other Easter treats are available on the website, including a lamb shaped cake and a Hefezopf.
Sicilian Easter Bread Baskets
Recipe provided by breadbakes.com
This is a beautiful recipe with fascinating family history and loving memories shared with the younger generations. Check the website for all you need to know about different types of bread for all occasions.
Sweet and Easy Vegan Carrot Oatmeal Cookies
Recipe provided by therunningbaker24.com
These treats suit various diets and are healthy and easy to make, and could be a favourite cookie on the festive Easter table!
Easter Chick Cookies
Recipe provided by emilyfabulous.com
Creativity knows no limits in baking! Cuteness by sprinkling is a sure way to have fun while baking and impress when serving.
Fluffy Easter Bunny Cake
Recipe provided by theworldisanoyster.com
Not precisely an Easter food in the traditional way, a fluffy Easter Bunny cake is more of a fun baking idea, especially when little helpers get involved.
Quick and Easy Vegan Challah Bread
Recipe provided by therunningbaker24.com
A vegan Challah bread is fun to bake, not to mention that it makes an excellent side for other recipes on this list and not only!
Vegan Cinnamon Rolls
Recipe provided by theurbenlife.com
These chewy rolls are delicious and easy to make and will surely look good on any festive table; besides, they suit perfectly a healthy lifestyle.
Easter Bread With Raisins
Recipe provided by coffeefitkitchen.com
This celebratory bread is so yummy you might want to make it any other time, not only at Easter! Did I mention how easy it is to make? Well, it is!
Incredible Snickerdoodle Cake
Recipe provided by givemetherecipedammit.com
There can be no Easter without dessert, but if you ever need an emergency backup, look no further. This recipe has a funny backstory, too!
Double Chocolate Chip Hot Cross Buns (vegan)
Recipe provided by rainbownourishments.com.
This Easter, bake a few vegan hot cross buns with two types of chocolate chips. They are fluffy, will melt in your mouth and are better than store-bought!
Bacon Cheddar Deviled Eggs
Recipe provided by momthelunchlady.ca
A decadent and hot appetiser, deviled eggs should be present on any festive table, no matter the occasion. At Easter, they complement the coloured eggs beautifully.
Rainbow Carrots In Tarragon Brown Butter
Recipe provided by senseandedibility.com
Rainbow carrots make a scrumptious side dish to share with loved ones at the Easter table. Perfect for lamb and not only.
Easy Riz Cantonais
Recipe provided by cheapdeliciousdinner.com
If you plan an Easter foods picnic, this is a popular Madagascan recipe with Asian influences, easy to make and carry in a picnic basket.
Pepper Crusted Racks Of Lamb With Horseradish Creme Fraiche
Recipe provided by giangiskitchen.com.
The pepper-crusted rack of lamb with horseradish crème fraiche is a wonderful combination of peppercorns, lemon zest, garlic, fresh herbs, and panko—a tasty outer crust over a perfectly juicy lamb.
Slow Roasted Shoulder of Lamb
Recipe provided by greedygourmet.com.
This slow-cooked shoulder of lamb is one of those memorable lamb recipes that will remain with you forever. It’s one of those wow dishes that you can proudly serve to a special someone or for your family on a special occasion
Leg Of Lamb With Fresh Mint Sauce
Recipe provided by whatagirleats.com.
Leg of Lamb with Fresh Mint Sauce is studded with garlic and roasted with rosemary, salt and pepper. It’s the perfect Easter meal or Sunday supper.
Welsh Lamb and Pumpkin Pie
Recipe provided by intheplayroom.co.uk.
A traditional Welsh recipe for all seasons and perfect for Easter, too!
Classic Passion Fruit Daiquiri
Recipe provided by senseandedibility.com
This is a spring shaken cocktail that goes perfectly with any of the above. According to its creator, passion fruit “transcends seasons and cultures”. I believe her. I have tried many of her creations and will surely have this one at Easter!
Easter Gifts and Crafts Ideas
If you are looking for teen Easter baskets ideas this year, you might find inspiration in this teen collection kindly provided by dailychristmasinspo.com.
For younger kids, there is plenty in this post put together by Sarah at journeyforjasmine.com. You’ll find many cute ideas that will make Easter a lot more exciting for the entire family.
This time last year, the world was still dealing with total lockdowns. At the moment, there is hope the pandemic will soon reach an end. I also have immense hope that the insane war and suffering in Ukraine will be over before the Orthodox celebration of Jesus’ resurrection.
Perhaps we all need to take a minute and reconsider the past couple of years and all that it meant to each of us and humankind collectively. If we are as smart as we believe we are, we will never allow history to repeat ever again! And we will have health, peace and traditional Easter foods on our table!
There is hope for our species!
Thanks for this collection. It helps me alot.
This collection of recipes is great for Easter, I can’t wait to try some this year, for something different…thank you for adding them in one place
HAPPY EASTER – we love easter egg hunt
Great list of recipes here! Thanks for putting so many in one place!
Thank you for this great collection of recipes!
Love this collection of delicious recipes and I learned something new!
So many wonderful recipes, thank you for including my favorite too. Easter is so traditional in our house as well and you just introduced me to a couple more dishes to try, Slow Roasted Leg of Lamb sounds divine.
Thank you and Happy Easter!
xoxo
great round up of awesome easter recipes!
What an amazing collection of recipes for Easter and so much information too! Thanks for putting this together!
This is awesome!:) YUM! YUM! Amazing collection of traditional Easter foods!:) Will make sure to try each one.:) Thank you!
I love this round up! Such a great variety of recipes to choose from! I’m excited to try the German easter bread.
This Ukrainian girl does remember making those beautifully decorated eggs. Baba made the best Easter bread. Lots of great traditions in this informative post.
This is so lovely to hear! I have fond memories, too, of decorating Easter eggs, pinching the nuts mom had prepared for the cozonac filling and messing with the quantities:)
Yum yum! Such an amazing list! I’m going to start with the deviled eggs and then move on to the fluffy Easter bunny cake! 🙂
Wonderful post! I really love to learn about other cultures, cuisines, and traditions! From all this list there are so many things I would love to try, but Romanian Easter Cake and Bacon Cheddar Eggs took my attention the most! Thank you for a great job of putting all these recipes together!
Thanks, greatly appreciated:) I’m glad you picked your favourites from the list. I hope you’ll get to make and taste them!
Love all the delicious recipe ideas and photos. Pastiera Napoletana is my favorite. Lots of interesting background info too!
Those chick cookies are SO cute and those cinnamon rolls look AMAZING! I can’t wait to try some of these ideas out! Thanks for sharing!
Happy Easter! All of these recipes look so delicious. Totally would love to try these out.
Thanks so much for all these creative Easter ideas! Will have to try some of these soon!
Great Post. Thanks for the little history to remind us what Easter is all about. Loving these recipes. I don’t think you include it here, but I also liked the Hot cross bun recipe from “therunningbaker24” and what it symbolizes. The cross in the buns symbolizes Jesus’s crucifixion on the cross, and the spices in it represent the spice they used to embalm his body. Thought that was pretty cool! Thanks for sharing!
I saw it on Jennie’s site, you’re right. It is not included here, but perhaps she’ll send it next year:) Thanks for your thoughts!
Love the Easter recipes. I apprecite your presentation the history and meaning of Easter.
I love the variety of recipes here. So much to choose from, and I have my eye on a couple of recipes for the Easter celebration. Thank you!
These are all awesome recipes. My favorite would be the Romainian Cake.
I enjoyed so much this post about traditional Easter foods! Easter is my favorite holiday and here in Bulgaria, we prepare a cozonac. It is one of my favorites, but I spotted two recipes in your post that I definitely want to try out: the Pasca and the Pastiera Napoletana. Thanks so much for sharing this!
Some of these foods look absolutely amazing and appear to appeal to a variety of taste buds. And I recognize a lot of the recipes that you included 🙂
As a kid, I was always excited and intrigued about what was going to be on the Easter table. The excitement never vanished, it’s just now I am the one that decides what’s going to be on the Easter table, lol! Thank you for sharing all these ideas with us.
The sugar cookies are adorable. Great list!
how interesting! love seeing all thebeautiful photos!
What a fantastic collection to choose from! I want to make them ALL!
I love this roundup of very delicious tasting recipes. Thanks for sharing the history of Easter. It was a great read. There are so many wonderful recipes to try, I’m not sure which one to try first. Happy Easter!
I know, I want them all at the same time, too!:)) Happy Easter to you too, and thank you for your recipe!
These recipes all look and sound fantastic! I also enjoy reading your thoughts about the history behind Easter. Thank you for sharing this post and including so many great bloggers. 🙂
Thanks for your recipe, Alyssa! I appreciate your thoughts on this post!
I love your history if Easter. Thanks for including my Easter Bread. All the recipes look delicious. I probably have a classic passion fruit daiquiri while choosing which recipes to make.
Agreed, I’ve already tried it:)) Thanks for your recipe; I’ll make the wreath before Easter!
Such a wonderful collection of amazing recipes for Easter! Thanks for adding in my cookies :). I want to make all of these so I better start celebrating now!
I was thinking the same:)) Just making the first cake today!! Thanks for your cookies recipe!
All this good food has me drooling. Everything looks amazing.
Great post and round up of recipes!
Such great information about the history of Easter! I’m adding that Snickerdoodle cake to our Easter menu. Yum!
What an amazing post!
I love that you mentioned the religious origins of the Easter celebrations.
I’m a big fan of traditional recipes, so I’m proud to be part of this immersion in all around the world Easter dishes, and I’m really curious to try some of these recipes!
I’m so glad that you have sent your Pastiera! I was looking for a good recipe and will surely make it!
so many to choose from! I cant wait to make another easter bread:) Thanks for including mine excited to try the others
Easter is my favorite holiday! I love all things Spring and memories of family Easter celebrations, Easter bonnets, pretty dresses, new shoes, flowers bursting forth from the wet ground and of course, Easter foods! Thanks for including me in this round up of delicious goodies.
Thank you! I can’t wait to have a go at a few bread baskets!
What a great roundup of Easter recipes! I can’t wait to try them all.
And I won’t stop until I try all your cocktails! Cheers!:)))
This is a wonderful post! Thank you for including my deviled eggs!
Thanks for reminding me to make them at Easter:))
I love this! Thank you so much for including my cookies. I’m excited to check out the other recipes. Have a Happy Easter, Mihaela!
Happy Easter to you too and have an epic egg hunt with the little ones! Thank you for every cookie tutorial you took the time to make; they are all so pretty!