Jamie: Welcome to a special episode of Eating the Past! I’m Jamie Sanders, here with fellow hosts Laura Gelfand, Sarah Barry, and Evelyn Funda, and we’re here to celebrate our 150th episode of the program, which first aired back in September of 2021.
Eating the Past started as a vlog-cast, created by Tammy Proctor and Jennifer Duncan, during the Covid-19 epidemic. A rotating selection of hosts would cook recipes from historic cookbooks from USU’s Merrill-Cazier Library’s Cookbook Collection. In 2021, Utah Public Radio asked us to create this version of Eating the Past, focusing on short vignettes about food history and culture. Tammy Proctor, Jeannie Sur, and myself took the program to radio, with our stalwart producer Shalayne Needham.
In the previous 149 episodes of Eating the Past, we have sampled the “tasty morsels” of food history from around the globe. There have been both weird foods and comfort foods for troubled days. With deep dives into dumplings and iconic state foods, we’ve explored the character and natural environment of our nation and beyond. There have even been good-natured debates about barbeque and whether or not you can be a vegetarian in spirit if not in practice.
Evelyn: So what better way to mark our Eating the Past’s 150th episode milestone than with a food that highlights how we celebrate the passage of time. Today, we begin a three-part series about the history of birthday cakes, a dessert that has its origins in Ancient Greece. It was the Greeks who established the traditional form of the cake as a ceremonial tribute to the moon goddess Artemis, who was also the goddess of childbirth and transitions. When a child was born, the Greeks brought these round honey cakes to her temple, then inserted candles and lit them, to represent the moon and stars in the night sky. Some even believe that this ceremonial tribute to Artemis included prayers or wishes that were carried to the goddess on the smoke of the extinguished candles.
Laura: A quick look at birthday cakes in ancient western tradition offers a few other examples. As depicted in the Book of Genesis, the Ancient Egyptians recognized the coronation of the Pharoah as his “birthday” because that was the day that the man was reborn as a god. While Genesis doesn’t elaborate on the celebration, it does say that the Pharoah singled out his chief baker for special recognition that day.
Yet it wasn’t until sometime during the rise of Ancient Rome, that the birthdays of some common people were marked by a birthday cake, but only on the occasion of a Roman man reaching the age of 50. And in case you’re wondering, Roman women’s birthdays were not celebrated at all until the beginning of the Common Era, more than 2000 years ago.
Sarah: Fast forward to 17th century Germany who really established many of the birthday traditions we know today with the celebration called “Kinderfest,” where a child’s birthday was marked by a party with games and a round, layered cake was decorated with an egg-white icing and a candle for each year of life as well as an extra that was added as “one to grow on.” That single candle served as a hopeful prayer during a time when child mortality was still high. Unlike today, those birthday cake candles were lit in the morning and burned all day, being replaced as was needed throughout the day; then, only after the evening meal, the child would blow out the candles and make a wish. Because the ingredients were expensive, however, this kind of cake was something only the upper classes could enjoy.
Evelyn: But birthday parties weren’t just for children. In 1746, a huge birthday party was thrown for Count Ludwig von Zinzendorf. His entire castle was decorated throughout with greenery boughs, and “no less than a thousand candles burning at once,” an observer wrote, making the scene so bright “that at Night the whole castle seemed on fire.” And, boy, was there a cake! --reportedly "a Cake as large as any Oven could be found to bake it, and Holes made in the Cake according to the Years of the Person's Age, every one having a Candle stuck into it, and one in the Middle." The strangest part of that story was that the Count wasn’t even there for his own birthday party. In fact, he wasn’t even in the same country!
Jamie: Next week we’ll talk about how the industrial revolution and box mixes forever changed the birthday cake. Until then, you can visit our webpage on UPR.org for a recipe for Greek honey cake, reminiscent of the Artemis cake and a YouTube video about how the Romans celebrated birthdays. Join us next time for Eating the Past, Sundays at noon, right before The Splendid Table.
For a traditional Greek Honey Cake recipe that probably resembles the Artemis Cake, visit the Dimitra’s Dishes website at: https://www.dimitrasdishes.com/greek-honey-cake/
“Did the Ancient Romans Celebrate Birthdays?” see AD BC History YouTube video at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cxlHfpmOCe0&t=416svideo
