CityView Magazine

food Pictured left to right: An Italian Pannettone, Colombian Lechon, German Stollen and Lebkuchen cookies. Christmas Cravings Y our neighbors may have the same Christmas lights as you, the same decorated tree in their window and the same stockings hanging from their mantle, but when they sit down to eat their Christmas din- ner, their spread may be like nothing you've ever tasted. For a variety of reasons, Fayetteville is home to people hailing from many differ- ent countries. People come here from eve- rywhere and they bring their tastebuds and their customs with them, including the foods they like to dine on during the holiday season. Colombians in Fayetteville may, for ex- ample, pull up a plate of Colombian tama- les on Christmas Day, according to Brian Saldarriaga, one of the owners of La Fo- gata, a Colombian restaurant on McPher- son Church Road. Colombian tamales, he said, are much bigger than the more common Mexican tamales. "They have a full serving of chicken and pork inside," he said. Another Colombian holiday favorite is lechon, an elaborate form of roasted pig. Saldarriaga said Colombians celebrate the season with roasted pig in much the same way Americans eat roasted turkey. 22 | Food & Wine • 2011 La Fogata prepares lechon for customers who order from their catering service, though it is not available on the restau- rant's menu. "We get a whole pig, cut it down the middle, take out all the meat and bones so that there's only about an inch or so of skin leſt," Saldarriaga said. "Then we mix the meat with rice and vegetables and stuff it all back into the pig and roast the pig until the skin is crispy." For dessert during the holiday season La Fogata will be serving Passionfruit Mango Cheesecake and Coconut Flan, both special occasion treats in Colombia and, like the tamales, available on the res- taurant's menu. Other favorite international holi- day treats you might find around town include: Buneulos, fried dough balls that are popular in many Spanish-speaking coun- tries. They usually have a sweet or savory filling or topping and are considered by many to be an essential part of holiday celebrations. Bunuelos can be purchased in the freezer section at Compare Foods grocery store. Lebkuchen (see recipe at right) are traditional German holiday cookies that BY REBEKAH SANDERLIN Eat like Santa does as you sample these globe-trotting holiday favorites range in taste from spicy to sweet and come in a variety of shapes. The ingre- dients usually include honey, spices such as aniseed, coriander, cloves, ginger, car- damom and allspice, and nuts such as al- monds, hazelnuts, and walnuts as well as candied fruits. Stollen is also a popular German treat, available year round but always found at Christmas time. Stollen is a fruitcake with bits of candied fruits, raisins, wal- nuts and almonds and spices such as car- damom and cinnamon. Stollen is avail- able at most of Fayetteville's German restaurants and bakeries. Italians are famous for treating them- selves to big slices of pannettone during the holidays. Pannettone is a tall sweet bread loaf that has a cupola shape (just like the one that tops Fayetteville's Mar- ket House). It usually contains candied bits of orange, lemon and raisins. You can find pannettone for sale in grocery stores all over town. In Poland and other eastern European countries, a typical Christmas dinner be- gins with borscht, a beetroot soup that is popular in many Slavic countries. Borscht is on the menu at Lido's —The Euro Spot restaurant in downtown Fayetteville.

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