For me, Christmas will never be the stereotypical North American experience.
Reason #1: My family opens presents Christmas Eve
Reason #2: Christmas dinner does not include turkey or ham
Implications aside, not celebrating Christmas the same as my peers never bothered me and probably never will. It’s more of a season than a day and my festivities are centred around family, togetherness, and food—just not turkey.
Three generations ago, my family was Norwegian. And when they immigrated, they brought their traditions with them. Now, for vague and/or various reasons, my family maintains some of those traditions.
In reality, our Christmastime celebration is not much different than anyone else’s;, we’ve just made some substitutions. For example, instead of waking up early to open presents on December 25, we open them the night before, play with all our new stuff, then sleep in the next day. Another example, instead of eating turkey or ham, we eat something called lutefisk.
Lutefisk is a traditional Nordic dish, which is dried whitefish (such as cod, or haddock) and soda lye. It is notorious (even in Scandinavia) for its intense, unmistakeable effect on the senses. All the senses.
Lye, or sodium hydroxide, is often used to soften a hard, indigestible base. Dried whitefish falls into this category. The preparation of lutefisk is a delicate dance of deliciousness. First, the fish is soaked in cold water. Changing the water daily is key for this preparation stage, or the fish will not taste right. Next, it is soaked for two full days in an unchanged solution of cold water and lye. It’s at this point the fish swells and sheds 50 per cent of its protein to make a jelly-like consistency. It is also at this point the fish is caustic, with a Ph value of 11.
In order to make the swollen lutefisk edible, the first step is repeated (and the Ph balanced). Then, it is ready to eat—after it is salted and steamed for half an hour of course.
An acquired taste maybe, lutefisk is for me a unique and powerful symbol of my history and identity. And I’m not just talking about the smell.
Lutefisk is also the image that comes to mind when I read Matthew 5:13. “You are the salt of the earth. But what good is salt if it has lost its flavour? Can you make it useful again? It will be thrown out and trampled underfoot as worthless.” Since our society no longer uses salt for preservation but merely to enhance flavours, it’s easy to miss the true meaning of this verse. As Christians, our purpose isn’t to “spice up,” the world around us. We’re meant to leave an unmistakeable impact on it.
The two week process of preparing lutefisk leaves it unable to be anything but lutefisk. Its look, taste, smell, and feel never leave you wondering if you’ve just had salmon. And the same should apply to Christians—the process of growing in Christ and living lives of faithfulness should leave us unmistakeably marked. May we be unable to pass another person without leaving the instantly recognizable scent of Jesus behind.
By Robyn Roste
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