Yes, I’ll be home for Christmas — you can count on me — but what if a trip back isn’t in the cards?
Then you eat carp, of course, just as I did in 1991, when I spent the Christmas season in Košice, Czechoslovakia (now independent Slovakia). I was there for a gig teaching English to doctors, nurses and staff at the city’s university hospital. It was a decidedly (and refreshingly) post-communist, non-consumerist holiday celebration that I’m guessing has changed considerably in 33 years.
The story is relayed at my website.
40 Years in Beer, Part Thirty Eight: Christmas in Košice, 1991
Those big blue plastic tubs appearing just before Christmas piqued my curiosity, especially when I saw fish swimming in them. My students gleefully explained: those aren’t mere fish, they’re kapr, “carp” to Americans, and they’re not just carp — they’re Christmas dinner!
Three students invited me into their homes for Christmas Eve (one) and Christmas Day (two). They stocked up on beer, and food was plentiful, with all three households serving fried carp, which as you might imagine remains a hall-of-fame culinary memory.
Why do Central Europeans in general, and Czech and Slovaks in particular, eat carp for Christmas?
My “40 Years in Beer” narrative continues. I began writing it in 2022, and installment #69 is next. The long and winding road map is here: The 40 Years in Beer Compendium: links, previews, and coming attractions.
Thanks for reading, whether here or there (or for that matter, anywhere).
