International Funeral Foods
Culinary traditions for wakes and cemetery ceremonies around the world
A funeral meal is not just a bite to eat; it is a transition from death to life. As such, it is an important element in the funeral rites.
In Flanders, death does not get as sweet and distinctive a culinary accompaniment as do birth and the First Communion. Instead, it is salty, and quite, quite plain.
After the funeral service and the farewell at the cemetery, the mourners gather in a hall to partake of a meal of pistolets with butter and slices of cheese, coffee and tea. No, we do not shoot one another: in spite of their name, pistolets (French) are harmless plain bread rolls. There is no variation, no embellishment. There isn't too much of it, either, just enough. Party crashers will not be indulging.
Cultures vary remarkably when it comes to the ingredients, volume, variety, preparation and presentation of the food served at funerals and wakes. In North America alone there are many traditions: at Christian and secular funerals dainty finger food is served, visitors bring an overabundance of kosher food to the Jewish Shiva, in the South the mourners bring fried chicken and casseroles. Funeral meals may be restricted to purely vegetarian, or it may consist of the favourite dishes of the deceased.
Whatever the fare, the funeral meal performs several important functions - even if "officially" it is no longer part of the funeral ceremony. Visitors may have come from far and may need to be fed before they attempt the long journey back. Food may be offered in exchange for prayers for the departed. Sometimes food is even presented to the soul of the deceased, to appease it and to help it on its long journey home.
But most often it is for the living that the funeral meal provides the much needed transition. The meal - that is, the food as well as the company - helps the mourners transition from death to life, from the other-worldly to the mundane, and from a sorrow borne privately into community and hope for the future. This has its roots in the past. Historically, at the funeral one said goodbye to the deceased, whereas at the funeral feast, one celebrated and welcomed the new heir.
That is what the funeral meal in Flanders, in all its distinct and thorough ordinariness, does best. After coming to terms with the death of the loved one, and the more metaphysical contemplation of the mortality of all life, the mourners are drawn back into ordinary life as they sit together around a table of, literally, their daily bread.
More articles related to culinary traditions:
On the consumption of raw meat
A blessed treat: Saint Hubert mastellen
