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Today is the spring equinox and I feel that of all the New Year dates we are celebrating, this is the one that resonates most with me. Tipping the scales from darkness to light, such an ancient and unmissable moment in the year.  No wonder #Nowruz - the Iranian and central Asian New Year, which is on the equinox - can be traced back to ancient Babylonian times. I can't imagine a culture that didn't mark this day, and just about every tradition has a festival or significant calendar moment that is on, or calculated from, the vernal equinox. The next few weeks are busy ones for #cookingtheyear! I made Sabzi Polo Mahi, and a meat-free Gormeh Sabzi (with kidney beans and black eyed beans, I can't forget that the latter are a good luck New Year food in the southern US and elsewhere, probably originatingfrom Africa) for the vegetarian. A whole fish is essential for New Year in so many traditions. Claudia Roden gives some interesting tidbits of magical lore about fish ...

Wow, it's been a while since I wrote a proper blog post. There are half a dozen in draft but it's been busy, what can I say. Plus it feels flippant to write about food or planning policy or public projects here when the world is so full of sadness and horror. But I started this little project and I want to keep a record of what and how and when. If you want a little glimpse of a couple of festive meals - from the Deep South and from Japan - that we made in the last couple of weeks, have a look at my instagram . Today I thought I would jot down a few longer notes about today's #cookingtheyear festive foods, which draw on the work of Claudia Roden and start our exploration of Jewish holiday foods - of which there will be many more over the coming weeks. Today is Purim - a Jewish holiday which - as I have been reading - has a lot to do with food, particular sweets and pastries. When my daughter mentioned it to a friend of hers who is of Jewish heritage, he described it as th...