Another New Year

One of the things I love the most about the ethnic, cultural and religious diversity of urban farmers markets is the multitude of New Year celebrations. And you know what that means - feasting! It doesn’t matter where you’re from or what you believe, food is central to practically every holiday. After many seasons of selling at farmers markets, I’m starting to get the hang of all the holidays enough to plan on the special requests for foods associated with each one, my lessons far better (and flavorful) than any college cultural geography course.While the global population bases day-to-day living with the Gregorian calendar, many of the cultural and religious holidays follow lunar calendars leading to multiple “new year” celebrations that occur on dates other than January 1st.I start out by wishing customers a happy new year on the first day of January. In my tribe, we opt for pork and sauerkraut for good luck. Approximately a month later, my Chinese, Vietnamese and Korean customers following their lunisolar calendar prepare for spring celebrations, aka Chinese New Year for which I have been on the receiving end of awesome pork dumplings.I learned about the Mongolian New Year when customers special ordered a sheep’s head and stomach along with assorted offal a few weeks ahead of their celebration. Their new year occurs on the first day of the traditional Mongolian lunisolar calendar which denotes the new year as the new moon two months after the winter solstice. They were kind enough to bring me a small container of leftovers to taste. It was quite good, but the neighbors’ at their condo didn’t appreciate the aroma which was quite different from American norms.In March, the Persian New Year brings a new set of flavors - dolmeh - which are grape leaves filled with ground lamb and ethereally sweet baklava, another tradition to which I look forward.Rolling into September, the requests for brisket begin which means Rosh Hashana is on the horizon. My self-appointed Bubbe has educated me on the culinary points of Judaism over the years, leading me to grow a large patch of horseradish for Passover and package individual shanks for the Seder plate.Several years ago, a young man asked for a ram’s horn to make his own shofar. I had to explain that the breed of sheep I raise don’t have horns. As disappointed as he was, maybe I should have substituted a goat horn, of which I have plenty.Digging into the history of Rosh Hashana, again I have found another celebration deeply rooted in agriculture. In the modern world, we tend to forget how many traditions have emerged from 5779 years of agrarian cycles. This is when new fruits, such as apples and pomegranates are coming into season, and honey is plentiful.Also observed at the new moon this month is the Islamic New Year. Raʼs al-Sanah is a low-key event after Eid-ul-Fitr and Eid-ul-Adha that is more of a cultural celebration that includes traditional meals based upon seasonal ingredients.After this month, there’s still one more New Year to celebrate - Diwali, the Hindu festival of lights which celebrates new beginnings, the triumph of good over evil and light over darkness. It is also when goat meat is traditionally served. That’s a new year to which I can totally relate.My customers at Central Farm Markets sometimes ask which holidays I celebrate. As a farmer who feeds people from all walks of life, I gleefully smile and tell them I celebrate them all.