Gingerbread - it's a Croatian thing

“Had I but a penny in the world, thou shouldst have it for gingerbread.” William Shakespeare

I don't s'pose anybody on earth likes gingerbread better'n I do-and gets less'n I do. Abraham Lincoln

I was feeling a bit uninspired, so I thought I would revisit my UNESCO Intangible Cultural Heritage List. And there on the list was Croatian Gingerbread making. Which was another Coles coincidence because on the cover of their magazine was a gingerbread house and their charity effort this Christmas is centred on gingerbread men. So gingerbread it is.

It seems that gingerbread is not that simple. There are different kinds of gingerbread - a squoodgy cake kind, a biscuit kind, and something in between and if you want to make it you can easily find a recipe - first place to look - Coles Magazine! Sorry to go on about it so much but this month's edition just had a few little inspirations on this and that in it. As well as the gingerbread house on the cover there is a recipe for a gingerbread brownie and also a mince tart with a decorative gingerbread man top.

For gingerbread is a people's thing. The original use of the word was for preserved ginger, but the gingerbread we know is pretty ancient. It was particularly big in medieval times when there were gingerbread fairs and ladies gave knights gingerbread favours. Ginger of course has a long medicinal heritage and I guess this might be part of it. The Smithsonian has a pretty comprehensive history if you want to know more. I think they still have ginger fairs in France. I vaguely remember going to one, or was it just a fair at which there were lots of gingerbread stalls - 'pain d'épices' they call it in France - spice bread.

Me - I'm not a fan of ginger - fresh or preserved ginger that is, especially preserved ginger - not to my taste at all. I remember my dad bringing back beautifully decorated ceramic jars of it from Hong Kong and thinking that it was revolting stuff. But maybe that is because I was a child. I wonder what happened to the jars because they were rather beautiful. I have always liked gingernut biscuits though and I did like making gingerbread men. What child doesn't? Though we never made a gingerbread house. They didn't have all the gadgets to help to do it back then.

And of course, there are competitions for best gingerbread house - People make copies of famous buildings and they even build real buildings in an effort to build the biggest in the world - mostly in America of course. There was one that even had to have a proper building permit. Such a waste of food, time and money. Though I guess in its way no worse than the ginger fairs of medieval times.

So gingerbread men and gingerbread houses - very fairytale and festive, though the fairytales are a bit grim really. I mean it's like eating people when you eat gingerbread men isn't it? I found this rather nice little passage from a book called Once Upon a Tower which rather sums up the ambivalence about it all really.

“Is he your very first gingerbread man?' She nodded. 'You eat him.' 'Eat his head?' 'I always start with the feet,' Edie suggested. 'But if I eat him, he'll be dead.' 'No, he'll be in your tummy,' Layla said. 'There's a difference.' 'I think I'd better eat his head first,' Susannah said ... 'That way he won't know what's happening to him.' 'That's a very kind thought,' Layla approved.” Eloisa James

And then there's this:

The Perfect Man

He’s cute, he’s sweet,

and he doesn’t get upset

when you bite his head off !!

Anon

I don't really know when they became such a Christmas thing - In England they seem to hang them on Christmas trees, though I don't remember doing that. You'd need a not too crumbly pastry though as Felicity Cloake found out when she tried to make the perfect gingerbread men.

But back to the original inspiration for this post - the Croatian gingerbread making. The picture at the top of the page is an example and here are three more.

Obviously red is the favoured colour here and a heart shape is the favoured shape - for they are used more at weddings and festivals such as St. Valentine's day. They are extremely elaborate and I saw one article that said that one could take a month to make, which sounds a bit extreme. The pictures I saw of their manufacture seemed to show people making several at a time. And how on earth did it get on to the UNESCO Intangible culture list? Apparently it was the English and the French who nominated the tradition. Below is the lengthy reasoning you can find on the UNESCO site.

The tradition of gingerbread making appeared in certain European monasteries during the Middle Ages and came to Croatia where it became a craft. Gingerbread craftspeople, who also made honey and candles, worked in the area of Northern Croatia. The process of making gingerbread requires skill and speed. The recipe is the same for all makers, utilizing flour, sugar, water and baking soda – plus the obligatory spices. The gingerbread is shaped into moulds, baked, dried and painted with edible colours. Each craftsperson decorates gingerbread in a specific way, often with pictures, small mirrors and verses or messages. The gingerbread heart is the most common motif, and is frequently prepared for marriages, decorated with the newlyweds’ names and wedding date. Each gingerbread maker operates within a certain area without interfering with that of another craftsperson. The craft has been passed on from one generation to another for centuries, initially to men, but now to both men and women. Gingerbread has become one of the most recognizable symbols of Croatian identity. Today, gingerbread makers are essential participants in local festivities, events and gatherings, providing the local people with a sense of identity and continuity.

However, when I looked at the Wikipedia article on gingerbread which mentioned many different varieties from around the world it did not mention Croatia as one of them! I'm guessing it's who you know that gets you on the list. And what does it do for you anyway? Tourist dollars perhaps, or am I being somewhat cynical.

They are rather beautiful in an ethnic sort of way though - a bit like Russian easter eggs - which aren't on the list. Which sounds rather patronising, but isn't meant to be.