Who Stopped Traffic? The Decadent Pastry Line?
Food for saints, saints for food
Sink your teeth into the airy, fluffy choux pastry and cream that melts you.
Laden with sweet ricotta cheese, topped with whipped mascarpone, showered with confectioner’s sugar, and capped with a pretty maraschino cherry. The zeppole! All flaky and sugary on your fingers? Good. Oh, deep-fried— not baked — only on March 19, St. Joseph’s Day.
St Joseph broke the spell of a harsh drought. Sicilians, not known for culinary skimping, honor him lavishly with zeppole as the patron saint of pastry chefs. His feast day falls during Lent the meatless period, so pastry it is.
My good friend sent the screamingly-handsome zeppole photo above with the highway alert below, the morning he dashed for the decadent pastry and coffee, amused. Rhode Island’s population being mostly of Italian descent, the tradition comes alive even for non-Catholics.
There are plenty of Zeppole left. Slow down!
The connection between food and comfort may be obvious, but food and saints? Why not? Food is connected to humans’ well-being and emotions, and so are saints. Christian feast days take up 20% of the year. Of these, many honor patron saints of food and drinks. Christians or not, people around the world eat and drink their hearts out to venerate their heroes.
Starting with breakfast
The French St. Arnold of Soissons urged people to drink “small beer” (less alcohol content) instead of water. That saved lives during an epidemic. Why? During the process of brewing, the water is boiled and freed of pathogens. Beer also contains spent yeast, the natural additive to enhance immunity. Drinking “small beer” earlier in the day was common in the 11th C. Cheers to Arnold, patron saint of breakfasts 🍺🍺! Beer up on August 14, his feast day. Moderately ;-)
Omnivores and Herbivores
Gotta love the feast for Saints Peter and Paul — St Peter the first pope, and St Paul the man of important words in the New Testament. Every June 29, a scrumptious fair pops up around St Paul’s Basilica in Vatican City. Street food. YUMMO! Porchetta — succulent spit-roasted pork stuffed with spices, served in rolls, and olives Ascolane — brined green olives stuffed with meat paste, crispy-fried with breadcrumbs. “Sinful”? Maybe. Enjoy the public holiday in Rome.
St. Anthony, who roamed the Egyptian Desert in the 3rd C., often used pig fat in his healing concoctions. Some dubbed him the patron saint of bacon. But he is the patron saint of pizza-makers, firefighters, and pigs, having braved an open fire to save his piglet. In Naples, shrines for him seem everywhere above wood-fired pizza ovens. Pizza lovers, observe January 17.
Poor piggies? Vegans and vegetarians, St. Nicholas of Tolentino champions thee. The Augustinian friar cured the sick with bread dipped in water. Crunch some greens on September 10, his feast day. He never ate meat.
Speaking of plant-based food. Multitaskers, St. Drogo of Sebourg is arguably your saint — though the Flemish patron saint of coffee and coffee makers never drank coffee. He is famous for bilocation, shepherding his sheep in several places and at mass simultaneously. Now that required superhuman energy. Coffee it is. Doesn’t the world love to celebrate his April 16 feast day every day?
Cheese gotta be in the picture. Who’s image graced Italian cheese licenses for two centuries (17th C. to 19th C.)? If you pay homage at the Parmigiano Reggiano Museum in Parma, you’ll find the story of St. Lucio of Val Cavargna, the patron saint of cheese and cheese-makers.
The humble shepherd used leftover whey for ricotta cheese to feed the poor. His jealous former boss kicked him out, later killed him for making the second boss rich, and dumped his body into a pond. The Alpine Lake turned red on July 12 — St. Lucio’s feast day — due to red algae. You guessed it, the locals took it as a sign of his sainthood. That, and his charity.
Chefs and Hospitality
Who prepared everything from scratch at the famous Last Supper for Jesus and the 12 disciples? St. Martha, who toiled over stone-grinds and stoves in Palestine, made her unleavened bread when there were no such things as running water or electricity. She was aptly canonized patron saint of women chefs and hospitality crews. Honor those who cooked and served on her feast day, July 29.
St. Lawrence, the patron saint of cooks and kitchens, was roasted in public on a gridiron for stealing food from the Church and giving it to the poor. He legendarily said,
I’m done on this side. Now turn me over.
His feast day: August 10.
Some stories of saintly martyrdom may not be palatable. Perhaps venerating these saints by celebrating with food and drinks of joy is one way to overcome memories of difficult days. Like the sunny zeppole. 🌞😎
Makes it easier for fasting days too.
© Pseu Pending (Seu) 2022
I’m usually against the idea of “about me” articles, but Susan Alison’s paintings got me:
