This month’s edition of Feast, the SBS magazine dedicated to food, focuses on a Greek family sharing their Easter traditions. Each month, the magazine includes a ‘Celebrate’ story where they join a family as they celebrate an event that is of particular cultural, religious or personal significance to them.
In this month’s edition, they have followed the Stamatelatos family in Sydney to share their celebration of Easter.
Editor of Feast Alix Clark told Neos Kosmos the reason for showcasing Greek Easter was because it was “possibly the most important event in the Greek Orthodox calendar”.
The Stamatelatos family let the cameras roll during their Easter celebration, sharing tales of food, culture and tradition surrounding Easter. The recipes provided are by the family themselves, and tested by Clark to ensure they work for the reader.
The article looks at generations of the family enjoying Easter foods and traditions. Scenes include the breaking of red eggs and a write-up on the symbolism of the eggs, the lamb on the spit including a 40-year-old recipe, dancing and what music is listened to and seven Greek Easter inspired recipes.
Feast magazine looks at the authenticity and stories behind the food.
“Our magazine is not just about recipes, it’s about history and culture and the people who love to cook, eat and share their food with their friends and families. We’re not about over-styled food shoots, we are about real food and flavours that are accessible to everyone,” says Clark.
“Feast is all about food and culture and for us, the two are really inseparable. You can learn so much about someone by what they eat – their culture, their history.”
In this article, Greek Easter food from generations gone by now sits alongside new instalments provided by second and third generations who want to contribute. So nowadays, it’s common to see a Luke Nguyen Vietnamese prawn salad accompany the lamb as does at the Stamatelatos family.
“Most families that we visit eat a wonderful blend of foods,” explains Clark, “we are very much about food in Australia in 2012. People living here are exposed to a wide variety of options and flavours and we are lucky enough to be able to pick and choose the best of everything.
“We are all about the stories behind the food and our ‘Celebrate’ stories focus on one particular family – that’s how we choose to cover events like these. We’re not an anthropological magazine – we’re a magazine about food, and how to cook, eat and enjoy it. Our readers are interested in learning about all the amazing cultures and food that we are lucky enough to have here in Australia.”
Grab a copy of this month’s Feast at your local newsagent or stockists of magazines.