Carrot Cake and other New Easter Traditions

(Gerry Furth-Sides) Easter has become for so many the holiday that celebrates the easter basket and the easter bunny with its traditional stuffers rather than a religious one. And rightly so, because it goes so much farther back in history by thousands of years.

To ancient cultures, Easter was known as the spring equinox-the time between seasons when the hours of day and night were equal. For farmers, this marked the highly anticipated transition from the dark days of winter to the sunny days of spring. And why it also is marked as the New Year by certain middle eastern and Asian cultures.

It was a time for people to pray to their pantheon for a bountiful harvest. This included the Anglo-Saxon goddess of spring and fertility, Eostre (sounds like Easter, doesn’t it?). It is written in the eighth-century work “The Reckoning of Time,” which was penned by the Venerable Bede (an English monk and scholar) that feasts were held in her honor.  Eostre was depicted cradling a woven basket in the crook of her arm. And so the idea of the Easter basket tradition began.

It would be lined with “grass,” stuffed to the brim with goodies like decorated eggs, marshmallow chics and chocolate candy. There was usually a cuddly rabbit, wrapped in paper, and topped with a bow. Children around the world received Easter baskets like this. We have added cheese, wine, crackers, fruit and great chocolate.

We also love the idea of carrot cake becoming a tradition. The best one we have ever has was at Better than Sex Restaurant in Los Angeles. Patricia Cabello’s is the lovely It is just a “wow” with all the right components. The cakes tastes like a spice cake topped off with cream cheese.

The caramelized brown sugar gives a sweet taste, cream cheese gives a salty and creamy profile, and spices such as cinnamon, nutmeg, cloves provide a richer taste.

We also love the same sort of fresh farm vegetable displays in Los Angeles as you would in any country market with the earth still clinging to them. We used a strong (made in Mexico) old Oster blender to make the carrot puree AND a kitchen scale to measure the baby carrots. For other idea about spring carrot dishes, please see //localfoodeater.com/new-novel-passover-and-easter-restaurant-feasts-2019/

For the “hottest” carrot cake recipe out now, please see //www.eater.com/23015346/carrot-cake-recipe-frosting-cream-cheese

For more ideas on how to celebrate easter in Southern Italian style, please see our article on Fabrizia Lanza’s book, COMING HOME TO SICILY. Her simple statement of “the first thing I remember about the holiday is chocolate” is as international as it gets.

Celebrate a Rustic, Aristocratic Italian Easter with Fabrizia Lanza’s “Coming Home to Sicily”