Patriotic spirit with intercultural taste
In a few days April 25th we celebrate a significant page of Italian history: the liberation from Nazi-fascism in 1945 and symbolically the end of the war.
Even in Australia, thousands of miles away from us, the day is an important occurrence: that day they celebrate the first important military action of the Australian and New Zealand army during the First World War: the Anzac Day (ANZAC: Australian And New Zealand Army Corps).
The Australians are proud of this army corp, Anzac, who distinguished himself on April 25, 1915 in the Peninsula of Gallipoli in military action aimed at enabling the British allies to force the Dardanelles, occupy Constantinople and force the ‘Ottoman Empire (ally of Germany) to emerge from the conflict.
Although the operation did not succeed, the memory of this landing, the legend of the valiant 8,000 soldiers who lost heroically there lives, but also the dead soldiers of all the wars, became a national holiday.
What are they doing for Anzac day in Australia? Attending the many celebrations – many of which take place at dawn, landing time -, singing Australian and New Zealand national hymns, holding sporting events and games, drinking black coffee with a splash of rum and …. They eat Anzac cookies, army cookies.
Traditional cookies, more than the legendary ones, those eaten by troops in the peninsula of Gallipoli, they were packaged by mothers and wives and sold during parties at home to raise funds to be sent to their loved ones during the wars.
The ingredients of the original recipe – oatmeal, sugar, flour, butter with lemon caramel syrup – made food not only nutritious and full of energy but also easy to preserve for long periods of time.
They say that the soldiers softened the cookies to eat them more easily, made them a porridge, grated them and added hot water or soaked them in the jam, making a kind of cake.
So, the password for April 25th is: patriotic spirit and Australian cookies on a beautiful sunny open air day!
Mara
