Gingerbread

Run, run, fast as you can, You can’t catch me, I’m the gingerbread man! Who hasn’t eaten a festive gingerbread man? You may even have attempted to make a gingerbread house. Gingerbread is strongly associated with Christmas but how did that happen? Ginger root originally came to Europe via the Silk Road, which was an ancient trade route, and in the Middle Ages it was used for medicinal purposes and in the preserving of meats. By the late Middle Ages, Europeans had begun to bake sweet gingerbread biscuits. These were shaped like animals, kings, and queens, and were sometimes gilded with gold leaf. They were a staple at Medieval fairs across Europe, particularly in England, France, Holland, and Germany. Queen Elizabeth I is even said to have had some made to resemble the dignitaries visiting her court. So popular was gingerbread that the fairs became known as Gingerbread Fairs, and the gingerbread biscuits were named ‘fairings.’ As the fairs took place throughout the year the shapes of the gingerbread changed with the seasons: flowers in the spring and leaves in the autumn. The gingerbread houses we know today originated in Germany during the 16th century. Bakers created elaborate buildings were decorated with foil and white icing in addition to gold leaf. The Brothers Grimm penned the story of Hansel and Gretel, who discover a house made entirely of sweet treats, deep in the forest, but it’s unclear whether the popularity of gingerbread houses were a result of the fairy tale, or whether the fairy tale borrowed from an already established tradition. Quite why gingerbread became associated with Christmas is also unclear but is probably due to a number of factors. Christmas markets were big ‘whole town’ events, and gingerbread is easy to make, and keeps well, so it’s ideal for selling on a stall. It’s likely that the combination of white icing and foil decoration was easily adaptable to create miniature snow-covered dwellings which provided pretty centrepieces for the festive dinner tables of middle-class households. The longevity and structural integrity of gingerbread also lends itself well to creating edible decorations for hanging on trees or giving as gifts. Historically diets of ordinary people were simple and bland because sugar was an expensive luxury. People could only afford to splash out on ingredients for cakes, biscuits, and sweets occasionally, and Christmas was the time when even less well-off people spent a little extra on fancy food and drink. Whatever its history, gingerbread is now firmly entwined with the festive season, from sweet little gingerbread reindeer to gingerbread lattes, the sight, smell, and taste of gingerbread is synonymous with Christmas.

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