Potato salad and sausages: a Tradition with deep meaning for the people

At Christmas, we feast, celebrate, sing carols, and enjoy. At least normally. In 2020, the coronavirus pandemic changed the situation. Even though the lockdown was suspended for a few days, people were only allowed to meet with four people beyond their own household. Effectively, large family celebrations, gatherings, and class reunions were cancelled in 2020.

Prof. Dr. Tina Bartelmeß conducted and evaluated a survey on eating behaviour at Christmas, especially in 2020. The Junior Professor of Nutritional Sociology at the Faculty of Food Sciences: Food, Nutrition & Health in Kulmbach draws clear conclusions from this: "At Christmas, people are not primarily concerned with having food on the table or exactly what that is," she says. Rather, she says, it is about communion, interaction, and communication. Traditional dishes are prepared and served because they refer to past times and experiences, and are associated with these social aspects of the Christmas meal - not necessarily because they taste particularly good to everyone at the dinner table.

Other focus

"Normally a survey like this asks what is eaten, how healthy it is, and so on. But we put a different focus on it. We wanted to shed light on the social component." However, the first question asked was what was being served. "Classically, that has been potato salad with sausages on Christmas Eve," Bartelmeß explains. "We asked ourselves what that was expressing," she says. The answer is that, historically, it was a meal for the lower or middle classes. But it is no longer that, she says. On Christmas Eve, she says, people are not concerned with expressing what they can afford through food. It's amazing how many respondents said that the table is magnificently set and people are smartly dressed, but then there's a rather plain dish," she said. "So, we were able to establish that here it is not exclusive food but lavish ambience that marks the specialness of Christmas dinner as an out-of-the ordinary meal. However, potato salad and sausages, the actual meal, give the Christmas feast recognition value. Sticking to traditional dishes serves as orientation and offers stability. For many of the respondents, Christmas is unimaginable without potato salad and sausages."

On Christmas Day, according to the respondents, there is often goose, red cabbage, and dumplings. On this day, people often eat not only with the nuclear family, but on a larger scale. "Again, it's more about spending time together," she says. "On Christmas Day, social relationships are often strengthened and rekindled." The dining table brings together grandparents, aunts, uncles, and other relatives who might not eat together in everyday circumstances. "Christmas dinner is an important social institution in this regard."

Much has been missing

This was cancelled last year. Whether large family gatherings will take place in 2021 is in doubt. "What the meal at Christmas stands for was largely absent last year," Bartelmeß points out. "Our respondents indicated that they especially missed sitting down to dinner together, the hugs, and the carol singing."

Even though some aspects of the dining situation at Christmas changed last year - for example, fewer people than usual came together at Christmas, there was more frequent airing during the meal, and eating took place at separate tables or even outside - the traditional Christmas dishes have remained the same. "We assume that the traditional dishes brought some stability and order to the unusual circumstances last Christmas, and hope that the meaning these dishes carry with them can be experienced again after the end of the coronavirus pandemic," says Bartelmeß.