When the saints, go munching in - Fiesta de Santiago and other saintly snacks

[rworange]

In the US, St. Patrick's day is celebrated with corned beef and cabbage ... and booze.

There's candy for St. Valentine's Day

St. Joseph's Day has zepolini

The Fiesta de Santiago was yesterday, July 25th. It is a big thing in Latin America with week-long celebrations.

So far the only special dish I could find was this mention in Spain
http://www.whatsalamanca.com/salamanca-festival.html

"In Salamanca and its surrounding towns and villages, expect to see the typical Spanish manifestation of a party: processions, bullfights, drinking, and eating- the traditional food of the celebration is a pie filled with scallops, the symbol of Santiago"

In that case, an excellent restaurant in Antigua, did a sly or inadvertant tribute, as the soup of the day was a delcious seafood chowder with scallops ... the first scallops I've seen in Guatemala.

However though there was a parade, marimbas and fireworks ... the most impressive being a guy in a fireworks cage who danced around while lit up ... tough gig ... I didn't see any special food for the day and it got me wondering.

Any other special dishes for this day ?

This blog writes ...
http://feastsandfestivals.blogspot.com/2010/07/25-july-st-james.html

"England has long been famous for its oysters. If you eat oysters on St James day it’s lucky - you'll want for nothing for the next twelve months,"

The blogger also writes " I thought it might be fun to mark the festivals of 2010 by researching then cooking some of the foods that are associated with them. I’ve chosen a wide range of festivals, some are pagan, some Christian and other faiths, some definitely secular"

So far in 2010, saint-wise

Feb1-2; St Bridget's Day - the day to plant your broad beans
http://feastsandfestivals.blogspot.com/2010/01/1-and-2-february-imbolc-st-brigid-and.html

Mar 1: St. David's Day - "leeks are of course essential on St David’s Day."
http://feastsandfestivals.blogspot.com/2010_02_01_archive.html

Jun 24: "St John’s Eve was also auspicious for the collection of herbs and the making of potions and simples. "
http://feastsandfestivals.blogspot.co...

Any other saints days with a special food that is served?

[JungMann]

Spiced breads and cookies seem to be popular for feast days. Immediately speculaas and St. Nicholas and St. Lucy's buns spring to mind. I vaguely remember a heavy bread the Irish would bake on St. Brigid's, not dissimilar from the bannock for Michaelmas. Martinmas is widely associated with wine or a traditional goose dinner in the Northern European countries. St. Honoratus has his own cake as the patron of bakers. St. Joseph has zeppole, but also lentils and beans as it is a feast day within Lent. Spaniards in Catalonia mark All Saints with panellets and St. John's with sweet coca; elsewhere, St. James gets a marcona almond cake. There are even more isolated special treats, I'm sure, in those barrios throughout the world that mark patronal days with a local sweet or baked good. For a very short while we tried to drink Jagermeister on St. Eustace's Day because his symbol is on the label. That did not last very long.

[pdxgastro]

My sister said growing up in our town in Italy, you were not to eat the cherries past St John's day because after that, the worms got in them. Nice. :-)