Welcome to The Storied Recipe Podcast, a podcast about food, culture, and love.
I've curated this list of 9 International Harvest Celebrations Around the World with related recipes in conjunction with my podcast series, Thanksgiving Episodes from my podcast guests who share their autumnal traditions with us.
One of the oldest and most enduring festivals is celebrating the end of the harvest season. Different cultures worldwide celebrate harvest time at different times of the year, yet they all recognize the importance of giving thanks for that year's crop yield and sending up hopes for a good harvest for the coming year. Fall harvest festivals in modern times in the Northern Hemisphere are mostly about feasting but in other parts of the world different traditions are outlined below, such as traditional dances and songs, church services, parts of the year's harvest that are used as a kind of symbolic figure of the harvest such as a crown or dolls, and many other different forms of the celebration of life and prosperity. In this post, I have highlighted 9 different harvest celebrations and dishes that are commonly eaten during their harvest festivities.
P.S. Check out my other Thanksgiving recipe round-up post: 17 International Recipes for a Non-Traditional Thanksgiving!
Thanksgiving or Action de Grâce, Canada
It would be reasonable to assume that Canadian Thanksgiving is identical to the United States Thanksgiving Day since we are close neighbors, and it is similar, however, there is less fanfare without the parades and marching bands, instead it is more about appreciating the last days of the warm weather. An explorer named Martin Frobisher celebrated the first Thanksgiving in 1578, but it didn't become popular until 1957 when the official Day of Thanksgiving was declared to be observed on the second Monday of October. You can still find a Thanksgiving turkey or ham on a Canadian Thanksgiving table, or a Tourtière, a French Canadian meat pie that is filled with pork, veal, or beef along with potatoes and other root vegetables encased in a pie crust.
sources: Food52
Tourtière: French Canadian Meat Pie
Cooks in 1 hour 10 minutes
Chuseok (추석) or Hangawi (한가위), South Korea
Chuseok is Korean Thanksgiving and is one of the biggest holidays of the year for Koreans. This three-day festival is to give thanks for a successful harvest season and is a time to be around family and give thanks to the family ancestors. The Thanksgiving story tells of a king from Sila 2,000 years ago who created a month-long weaving festival and whichever team won would have to treat the other to food, drinks, and other gifts.
Today, it takes place on the 15th day of the 8th month of the lunar calendar, usually in September or October. Chuseok has many Thanksgiving foods such as Songpyeon (filled rice cakes), Jeon (crispy Korean pancakes), Galbijjim (braised beef with short ribs and vegetables), and the one I am highlighting here is Japchae (noodle stir fry with mushrooms and vegetables, sometimes beef).
source: 90 Day Korean
Japchae (Sweet potato starch noodles stir fried with vegetables)
Cooks in 1 hourJapchae, sweet potato starch noodles stir fried with vegetables and meat, is one of Korea's best-loved dishes, and one of the most popular on my website as well. If anyone asks me to recommend a good potluck dish, I don’t hesitate to recommend japchae because everyone loves it!
Rice Harvest Festival, Indonesia
This annual harvest festival is held in Bali to give thanks to the Hindu Rice Goddess, Dewi Sri, a Hindu rice goddess. When it is time to harvest the rice, villages are decorated with flags, some villages make dolls from the rice stalks, and small bamboo temples are created in the most sacred areas of the rice fields to give thanks to Dewi Sri and for hope for a plentiful harvest for the next year. These traditions are not only meant to give thanks to Dewi Sri, but also to purge evil spirits from the land. It is a month-long celebration, starting on May 31 and ending June 30.
sources: The Culture Ties, Australian Good Food Guide
Easy & Tasty Nasi Goreng (Indonesian Fried Rice)
Cooks in 25 minutesNasi Goreng translates to "fried rice" in Bahasa Indonesia and Malay. Every country has its version of fried rice, but this is the version that you'll find in many restaurants and vendors along the streets of Indonesia. Despite the dish's Chinese origins, Nasi Goreng's flavors are distinctively Indonesian, bursting with spicy sweet-savory flavor.Over the years, it's become the country's national dish and is loved by many worldwide!
New Yam Festival, Nigeria and Ghana
The Igbo, Yoruba, and Idoma people of Nigeria (and Ghana) of West Africa celebrate Iri Ji (New Yam) Festival. It is a festival to give thanks to their deities and ancestors for providing the yam crop of the current year and hopes for a good crop in the year to come. The celebration of the New Yam Festival is observed at different times of the year in communities between August and October. Festivals include dancing, feasting, and even Masquerades! The day before the festival begins, some of the harvest traditions of the Igbo people include discarding or eating all of the old yams from the previous crop to make way for the current yam crop. On the first day of the festival, only yam dishes are served to symbolize the abundance of the crop. These lively festivals can last anywhere from a whole day to a week to even longer than that!
sources: Honest History, Umu Igbo Unite Los Angeles
Nsala Soup Recipe (White Soup) | Igbo People Foods
Cooks in 90 minutesNsala soup, also know as white soup is a popular soup in Igboland. Igbo is a popular Nigerian ethnic group. This soups is also loved by the Efiks and Ijaws in South-South Nigeria.
Dożynki Festival, Poland
Dożynki is a Slavic festival, celebrated in Poland and other Slavic countries. Historically, landowners would organize festival celebrations to show appreciation for their laborers and as a celebration of a bountiful harvest with dancing, feasting, and drinking. The most notable feature is at the start of the festival, a wreath is woven into a crown that is made from grain leftover from the harvest and is decorated with berries, nuts, and ribbons, as well as fake ducks, chickens, or gosling to hope for an abundant future harvest. Traditionally, a woman wears the crown and is the head of a procession on the walk to the church to be blessed for a prosperous future harvest. Another key tradition is the baking of large, decorative loaves of bread from the flour of the current harvest, further emphasizing gratitude and the hope for continued abundance.
sources: Iamus Dworski, Dozynki
Povitica Bread Recipe (with Walnut Cinnamon Swirl)
Cooks in 600 minutesDifficulty: MediumMake this authentic Povitica Bread the old-fashioned way, rolling it out on a tablecloth over a dining room table. Or choose the faster, easier route and split into 4 loaf pans.
Mid-Autumn Festival (中秋节) or Mooncake Festival or Moon Festival, China
Mid-Autumn Festival is an ancient Thanksgiving celebration spanning 3,000 years. Traditionally, it was a harvest moon festival where people worshipped the moon to give thanks for the autumn harvest. The changes in the lunar cycles during the fall season provided future guidance for the farming schedule, so the worship of the moon was to give gratitude and hope for a good harvest season next year.
Now, people celebrate the Moon Festival because it is symbolic of family reunions and prayers for good health and happiness. In addition to a holiday meal, other holiday traditions include appreciating the moon, worshipping the moon, and making paper lanterns of various bright colours (there is also a lantern festival during Chinese New Year, but it is not this one). Perhaps the most obvious tradition is eating moon cakes. Moon cakes are stuffed sweet pastries that are round shaped to symbolize the moon with an intricate pattern on top. Mid-Autumn Festival is held every year on the 15th day of the 8th month on the Chinese calendar (late September or early October).
sources: Honest History, China Highlights
Mooncakes, a Classic Recipe ()
Cooks in 150 minutesNothing can beat the taste of homemade mooncakes. This recipe shows you how to make traditional mooncakes with easy steps. A video is also included.
Puthari, India
I actually learned about this festival from my podcast guest, Accamma Nanjappa when she gave me her recipe, Thambuttu, an ancient dessert made from ripe bananas and flour made from brown parboiled rice, fenugreek, and cardamom powder. This dessert is eaten by the Coorg people during Puthari, their annual harvest festival. Kodava religion is practiced by the Coorg people and is best described as pantheism and their festivals center around nature and the harvest. Puthari is the first of 3 festivals, worshipping - in order - their tools and ancestors, then a holy spring, and finally, the harvest.
As Accamma stated in her interview, "One of the biggest festivals in the Kodava almanac is Puthari. On the full moon day of Rohini Nakshatram during the months of November or December, the harvest festival of Puthari is celebrated. Puthari is said to have been derived from the words ‘Pudiya Arisi’ meaning the new rice. While this harvest season starts at the rice paddies, it is quickly followed by the harvest of the other major crops in Coorg; Coffee, Coorg Mandarin, and Black Pepper. Safe to say then, that this is the onset of one of the busiest seasons in our calendar."
Thambuttu Recipe: No-Bake Banana and Rice Dessert
Difficulty: EasyA smooth, thick, spiced banana dessert complemented with rich, nutty ghee, toasted sesame seeds, and sweet coconut.
Mehregan, Iran
Traditionally, this was a celebration for Zoroastrian communities. Zoroastrianism is an ancient, pre-Islamic religion of the Persian people. It was to celebrate the end of the harvest and the beginning of winter. Also, Mehregan is dedicated to the deity Mehr—the god of friendship, love, and affection.
Today people celebrate it by setting up an alter that is filled with many items of thanksgiving such as a Zoroastrian scripture, an intense burner or small fire, a mirror, flowers, nuts, and fall fruits, such as pomegranates, grapes, and apples. After prayers are said and hymns are sung, either pomegranate juice or sharbat juice is drunk and kohl is applied around the eyes. Sharbat has three components: an acid, a sweetener, and a flavor. An example is the Sharbat drink below which consists of basil, mint, and rose water.
sources: Honest History, Zoroastrian Unity Worldwide, The Caspian Chef
Tokhm-e Sharbatie
Cooks in 10 minutesA tart and sweet aromatic basil seeds beverage infused with rose water and lime juice.
Festa Nacional de la Vendimia, Venezuela
This Thanksgiving tradition is a newer one compared to some but in no way less celebrated. This festival takes place every year in Mendoza, Venezuela to celebrate the grape harvest. The Mendoza region is where 70% of the country's wine comes from, and is well known for its dry red wine, such as Malbec and Cabernet Sauvignon. On the last Saturday of February, the grapes are blessed with holy water and bless it. Then there is Vía Blanca de las Reinas, which is a parade of women driving chariots in the streets of Mendoza, followed by the men's parade on chariots. There is also a beauty pageant for choosing the Harvest Queen. Other festivities occur throughout the month with over 1,000 performers performing traditional songs and dancing to crowds and after a month the festivities end with a fireworks show.
I am assuming you won't be making your own wine at home, so the recipe below is for Tira de Asado (barbequed spare ribs) which is a Mendoza regional specialty. Local dishes and traditional foods are eaten during this festival, such as beef or beans, both pair well with dry red wine, this is a good choice to eat with a Malbec or Cabernet Sauvignon from the Mendoza region while you celebrate.
sources: Mendoza, The Culture Ties, AIFS Abroad, Latin America For Less
Authentic Pabellón Criollo (Venezuelan Rice & Beans)
Cooks in 238 minutesThis traditional Venezuelan dish is as hearty as it is delicious. White rice, black beans, and skirt steak are cooked slowly and well seasoned. Perfect for a crowd!
More Lists for Inspiration
International Harvest Celebrations Around the World
Nine international harvest festivals from around the world with common Thanksgiving dishes eaten during the festivities.
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Ingredients
Canadian Tourtière from The Travel Bite
Japchae from Maangchi
Nasi Goreng from Turn On The Stove
Nsala Soup from All Nigerian Foods
Povitica Bread from Marlene Leap, Guest of The Storied Recipe Podcast
Moon Cakes from Red House Spice
Thambuttu from Accamma Nanjappa, Guest of The Storied Recipe Podcast
Sharbat from The Caspian Chef
Pabellón Criollo from Guest of The Storied Recipe Podcast
Would love to hear from you!