A culinary creation is also an open work, dependent on context. Different people will taste different dishes from the same pot, shaped by the context of their experiences. And it’s not only about culinary experience — often, cultural context is even more influential.
This becomes clear when, like me, you cook from within one culture for people from another, even if those cultures aren’t very different. Dishes that feel universally familiar here may be entirely new to them. This is especially visible in dishes like kutia, which are traditional Polish and Ukrainian holiday foods enjoyed only on special occasions.
Ingredients:
- 150g wheat berries
- 150g poppy seeds
- 100g raisins
- 50g each of walnuts, hazelnuts, and almonds (optional: figs, dates)
- Candied orange peel
- Artificial honey or agave/date/maple syrup
- Lime juice
- Thick part of coconut milk
- Sesame oil
Preparation:
Soak the wheat berries in cold water for 8 hours, then drain and cook until soft. Allow to cool.
Pour boiling water over the poppy seeds and cook for 15 minutes. Let them cool, then drain any excess water.
Grind the poppy seeds in a grinder with the finest blade or blend them coarsely until they turn a lighter color, showing they’re ready. You can also use canned poppy seed filling, although it will already have a sweet flavor, so adjust accordingly.
Chop the nuts and dried fruits (except raisins) roughly and add them to the wheat and poppy seeds. Toasting nuts beforehand enhances their flavor.
Add lime juice, sesame oil, sweeten generously (kutia should be very sweet), and stir in two spoonfuls of the solid coconut milk. Mix thoroughly and set aside for the flavors to meld.
Variations:
The base grain is wheat, though whole or husked wheat was traditionally used. Other grains, such as barley or rice, are also historically accurate. You can experiment with other grains, like millet, for variety.
You can also swap the nuts, dried fruits, and other additions to suit your taste.
Notes:
The core ingredients are grains, poppy seeds, and sweeteners (originally just honey). With these, you can create your own kutia recipe, adding other ingredients to taste. The more ingredients, the richer and more symbolic, as an abundance of nuts and sweet additions signifies prosperity.
Serving:
You can serve it with fresh fruits, such as oranges, which pair well. For me, this association with oranges and holidays comes from childhood, as both were special, reserved for Christmas. Serve as a dessert with coffee or tea.
For several years, I studied and practiced the “wheel of the year” based on pre-Christian European traditions. This cycle of festivals, tied to seasonal shifts and the agricultural calendar, is shared by most agrarian cultures and reflects the Hermetic principle “as above, so below.” It mirrors the human cycle of life, death, and rebirth and offers a model of the universe and humankind’s place within it.
In the Northern Hemisphere, the transition from October to November marks one of the most significant holidays in this cycle. This time of year is celebrated in regions beyond Europe, including North America and even Mexico, where ancient worship of Santa Muerte, or Saint Death, mingles with Christian influences. The cultural resonance of this holiday, embodying death, is probably the most well-known aspect of Mexican culture worldwide — along with burritos, of course. It’s also deeply present in pop culture and subculture. Just take a look at the Mexican communities in Decalifornia.
For inspiration, I looked back on an old Christmas Eve menu from 2017 featuring kutia. Traditionally eaten not only for Christmas Eve but also for Dziady — a Slavic ancestor commemoration resembling Halloween — the dish symbolizes the blending of the living and the dead, a time when the boundaries between worlds are thin.
Christmas kutia is also one of my favorite childhood holiday memories, as it was a once-a-year treat that everyone loved. Its dense combination of simple carbohydrates, nuts, and sweeteners gave our ancestors an energy boost, providing necessary sustenance in times of scarcity. High in sugar, fat, and proteins, kutia was like a “superfood” for our ancestors. Presented today as a Buddha Bowl Christmas Edition, it might just be a TikTok hit!
Symbolically, kutia’s mixture of grains and poppy seeds (from which opium is derived, bringing oblivion) represents the connection between life and death. Ethnographer Zygmunt Gloger noted that the poor commonly used poppy milk, while the wealthy used almond milk. He didn’t specify whether it was mature or not. Immature poppy milk is opium.
Marcus Aurelius enjoyed and relaxed with a brew made from immature poppy. This, in my opinion, casts a completely new light on his Meditations.
Near Hamburg Hauptbahnhof and the Museum für Kunst und Gewerbe, Hamburg’s museum of applied arts, “Aureliuses” are everywhere. After the ’90s, when there was a similar spot in central Katowice in Poland, near my bus stop — referred to as a “bajzel,” (mess) where I regularly met friends — I could recognize a heroin addict from afar. In Hamburg, this area is called the Addicts’ Park. The scene is also filled with crack users, and Hamburg is currently the main port through which cocaine enters Europe.
I’m an old punk from the ’80s and ’90s; heroin, alcohol, and plain recklessness took the lives of my friends. But even I feel uneasy in this place.
Heroin represents that world of oblivion, sleep, and death symbolized by the poppy. The behavior of heroin and other opioid victims brings this world to life, now most widely seen in the effects of fentanyl, which reminds me of the ’90s. Back then, it was normal when, while drinking cheap wine, someone would ask if you wanted “a cent” — a cubic centimeter of “kompot,” (compote) Polish heroin. Yes, the poppy is certainly a symbol of death, of places and experiences best avoided, even as a tourist.
There’s also something symbolic in addicts occupying Carl Legien Park. Legien, raised in an orphanage, was a lathe operator, founder of the lathe workers’ union, and author of a book on the 11-week Hamburg dockworkers’ strike in which he participated. Drug addiction, alcoholism, homelessness, violence, crime, and poverty always go hand in hand. To solve such social issues effectively, we must address poverty and exclusion first. That is the path to life.
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