What do pickled fish and hot cross buns have to do with Easter?
Chef Dr Anna Trapido breaks down what makes the combination a truly South African experience.
Picture: Pixabay
Nokukhanya Mntambo (standing in for 702's Gugs Mhlungu) speaks with Chef and Food Anthropologist, Dr Anna Trapido
Listen below:
Households across the country were stocked with hot cross buns and pickled fish for the Easter weekend, but have you stopped to wonder where it all started?
Hot cross buns are a spiced yeast dough with dried fruit and a cross on top, often associated with the Christian festival of Easter.
While many associate the cross with the crucifixion, Trapido says equivalents of hot cross buns have been found in Pompeii.
“They are pre-Christian, and are found all over Europe… For them, it symbolised the four quarters of the moon and they were making buns for a goddess they called Eostre, which is where we get the word Easter from.”
– Dr Anna Trapido, Chef and Food Anthropologist
“She was the goddess of light and spring… resurrection has a lot in common with the idea of spring, it's about transformation, death becomes life.”
– Dr Anna Trapido, Chef and Food Anthropologist
Pickled fish is uniquely South African, particularly starting in the Cape.
Fish is pickled with onion, red wine vinegar, brown sugar and lots of spices.
It originated from a time when seafood was affordable, and refrigeration wasn’t always an option.
“Eating them together is kind of the ultimate South African Easter experience.”
– Dr Anna Trapido, Chef and Food Anthropologist
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