Joy From The World

December 9, 2014 4:38 AM

December is a month of darkness across the Northern Hemisphere, where 90 percent of the global population lives. We battle it with candles and song, and above all with parties and food.
posted by ellieBOA (24 comments total)

I'm intrigued by the Jewish-Japanese fusion cooking and the Farsi dish. The whole article looks yummy!
posted by Renoroc at 5:31 AM on December 9, 2014

Yummy!

I was commenting on a foodie twitter chat just yesterday that I loved exploring the world with my taste buds. In that context, I was introducing someone to Kimchi Jjigae, one of my favorite soups. Now I have more to learn and to try!
posted by MrGuilt at 5:52 AM on December 9, 2014 [1 favorite]

Those photos do look yummy. This time of year is so dark and depressing that I think there is real value in pausing to enjoy some particularly nice food.
posted by Dip Flash at 6:26 AM on December 9, 2014

If we were still on Daylight Saving Time it wouldn't be as dark *grumble* *grumble*.
posted by I-baLL at 6:43 AM on December 9, 2014 [7 favorites]

The okonomi-latke sounds delicious, but the best latkes in the entire world are made by my mother. It's just an objective fact.
posted by Faint of Butt at 6:47 AM on December 9, 2014 [2 favorites]

Like George Costanza's father, I have my own quixotic holiday celebration ambition: we should make the winter solstice the secular, non-denominational holiday for the masses and leave the various religions to celebrate their particular fest on their own. Give everyone two statutory holidays: one for the solstice where everything is closed, and then a floating day that you any one can choose to use for their particular celebration (e.g. Christian would take December 25, Jews would take one day of Hannukah, atheists whenever they feel like it as long as it's in December).

The solstice celebration is all about calling the light back, and when you strip away the holiday songs and orgy of gift giving, the trappings of the holidays this time of year all boil down to making the darkness brighter. So let's own that and stop the culture war bullshit.
posted by dry white toast at 6:52 AM on December 9, 2014 [7 favorites]

I'm fine with the darkness...it's the candles, parties and song that I battle.
posted by malocchio at 6:52 AM on December 9, 2014 [6 favorites]

It was during the Easter/Passover season, but a co-worker once said something about different religious holidays when we were all eating lunch one day. Our (Catholic) boss and I were asking her about the intriguing-looking thing she'd brought for lunch, something made of matzobrei and egg, and she was talking about some of the other delicious things her mother made very Passover, and my boss and I were in turn talking about some of our familys' own Easter specialties.

And at one point my co-worker laughed and said "you know, if you think about it, all any holiday is about is food."
posted by EmpressCallipygos at 6:57 AM on December 9, 2014 [2 favorites]

Renoroc- Fesenjan isn't strictly a holiday dish. You can get it at Persian restaurants anytime during the year! There should be one near you if you live in a big city.
posted by BuddhaInABucket at 7:40 AM on December 9, 2014 [3 favorites]

In many European traditions, not partying, making merry, and feasting during the Holiday season can summon the wrath of the Spirits. Because if you don't partake in the festivities, the Spring might not feel inspired to return, & then everyone is in trouble.

Beware the Belly-Slitter this holiday season!
posted by Pirate-Bartender-Zombie-Monkey at 7:42 AM on December 9, 2014

I was informed by email that today is the earliest sunset of the year, therefore today is the shortest day for people who sleep through sunrise.

(4:12 pm in Newton, MA, to be specific)
posted by maryr at 7:58 AM on December 9, 2014

fesenjan is unspeakably delicious and I can never, ever get it right at home.
posted by The Whelk at 7:59 AM on December 9, 2014 [1 favorite]

I was informed by email that today is the earliest sunset of the year....

And here in New York it's rainy and cloudy so it's already dark as it is and my boss has just asked if I can go outside and run an errand and OH GOD I HATE THIS

I just wanna go home and get my awesome soft TARDIS blanky and a hot cocoa and sit on the couch and read kids' books now
posted by EmpressCallipygos at 8:04 AM on December 9, 2014 [2 favorites]

The okonomi-latke sounds delicious, but the best latkes in the entire world are made by my mother. It's just an objective fact.

As you know, one can't just state something's an objective fact. Such things require repeated testing by independent observers.

We'll be over around six...
posted by happyroach at 9:06 AM on December 9, 2014 [2 favorites]

I was informed by email that today is the earliest sunset of the year....

Wouldn't that be on the solstice?
posted by Liquidwolf at 9:09 AM on December 9, 2014

Wouldn't that be on the solstice?

No, because the earth doesn't orbit in a circle.

The earliest sunset is today, the latest sunrise is sometime around January 3rd, and the solstice is the shortest day.

Wiki Explains:

Equation of Time
Analemma
posted by bowbeacon at 9:21 AM on December 9, 2014 [4 favorites]

Astronomical mind blown. According to maryr (and this more detailed page), the days are still getting shorter but the times of sunrise & sunset are both trending later as of today.

As a fellow sunrise-skipper, it's nice to know that my effective day is already getting longer and I don't have to wait two more weeks for the turnaround. Now if I could only see the sun.

Also, fesenjahn is amazing,
posted by benito.strauss at 9:23 AM on December 9, 2014

No, because the earth doesn't orbit in a circle.

Thanks, I knew that but not the other stuff so much.
posted by Liquidwolf at 9:24 AM on December 9, 2014

Someone will always "correct" me if I state that the sunset is getting later though the days are still getting shorter. Usually it just ends with me giving them a blank look while they explain to me why I'm so wrong. It's the same look I reserve for people that tell me their strategy for winning on scratch lottery tickets.
posted by dances with hamsters at 9:55 AM on December 9, 2014

The date of the earliest sunset depends on your latitude, so here in Copenhagen we still have another week to go..
posted by nat at 10:27 AM on December 9, 2014 [1 favorite]

While we're blowing minds...

Cracking the Scratch Lottery Code
How MIT students beat the lottery
and, more directly related to the subject at hand, MIThenge.
posted by maryr at 10:37 AM on December 9, 2014

(Keith Winstein maintains that his MIThenge page is more accurate, but his dates are all past tense, so unless he wants to come over here and defend himself, he's out of luck.)
posted by maryr at 10:44 AM on December 9, 2014

“Yalda,” Dabashi says, “has managed to survive the centuries because it has been gently recodified with a Muslim veneer.”

Oh man, it feels like a very thin veneer when it comes to the old Zoroastrian holidays like Shab-e Yalda and Nowruz. I feel like much of the Persian-speaking world has collectively shrugged and decided not to give a fuck that our favorite holidays are basically pagan and have nothing to do with Islam, though the Taliban certainly took enough offense and banned Nowruz for a while in Afghanistan. I know my family's only Muslim contribution to these holidays is to stick a Quran on the table of haft-sin on Nowruz.

In comparison, whatever pagan holidays Easter and Christmas are piggybacking on and borrowing from, those holidays still seem grounded in Christianity. I wonder if the Zoroastrian holidays will ever fall out of favor or get syncretized into a Muslim holiday in future decades and centuries.
posted by yasaman at 11:26 AM on December 9, 2014

I came here from the coffee thread and read "okonomi-latke" as okonomi-latte. It did not sound delicious.
posted by lollusc at 11:52 AM on December 9, 2014