In the Czech Republic, Easter is known as a time for eating. If you want to eat like a Czech this week, here is a handy guide to all the traditional dishes. Photo credit: Casadei Graphics,
Brno, Apr 6 (BD) – Easter is here again, and Brno will be celebrating both the start of spring and the Christian holiday remembering the resurrection of Jesus.
An Easter market is running on Namesti Svobody from 31 March to 9 April, with free concerts of folklore groups and dulcimer music. More information about the program can be found here.
However, in the Czech Republic, Easter is also notable as a time for eating. If you want to eat like a Czech this week, our partners at Foreigners.cz have prepared a handy guide to all the traditional dishes.
Easter began in the Czech Republic on Ash Wednesday, known in the Czech language as “škaredá středa” (Ugly Wednesday). On this day, it is common to prepare potato flatbreads and sweet or salty pancakes (a traditional Austrian recipe known as Kaiserschmarrn) and tear them into “ugly” small pieces.
You can find a recipe for Kaiserschmarrn here.
On Thursday, Czechs celebrate Green Thursday (“zelený čtvrtek”). Aside from the ubiquitous “green” beer, this is otherwise a day for eating healthy. One common dish for Green Thursday is spinach soup or sauce with potatoes and boiled egg, or roasted peas.
You can find a recipe for this healthy and easy-to-make spinach soup here.
Good Friday is the day of fasting, and according to Christian tradition, you should not eat any meat. If that sounds like too much of a challenge, you can eat meals prepared from fish. Poor people used to bake potato cakes in the shape of fish, and a dense soup of sour cabbage, beans, potatoes, and other basic ingredients was also commonly eaten on this day.
You can find a recipe for potato cakes here, and then cut them into any shape you like!
Holy Saturday is the day of a great feast. In the evening, whole families get together around the table and eat a big meal of several courses. Two of the most typical dishes are Mazanec (sweet bread) and Easter stuffing with meat, called Nádivka.
You can find out here how to make Nádivka.
Then on Easter Sunday, many Czechs eat strong meat broth, followed by roasted meat. Traditional sweet cake in the shape of a lamb (“velikonoční beránek”) should also be on the table.
You can find out how to make this “lamb” cake here.
The celebration ends on Easter Monday, when people eat eggs as a symbol of fertility, whether fried, boiled, stuffed, or in a traditional spread (“Vajíčková pomazánka”), made of eggs, mustard, spring onion, and butter or yoghurt.
Find out how to make vajíčková pomazánka here.
Brno Daily wishes all of our readers a happy and delicious easter!
