Sadly, I missed Easter in Austria this year. I was enjoying some much needed sun and friend catch-ups in Australia. Like Christmas, it seems that Easter is taken a lot more seriously over here. Once again, completely different if you’re religious. So despite my not having actually been here, here are my impressions of it.
Thomas has dubbed Easter as his favourite food time of the year. Needless to say I was pretty upset when I heard this and had already booked my trip home. At Easter in Australia we generally do… well not much. These days a chocolate bilby on Easter Sunday and a trip to the fish n chip shop on Good Friday is about as exciting as it gets.
The Austrians spend the weeks leading up to Easter collecting all the dead and cut down wood from winter and piling it into massive bonfires. Then, on a certain night, they light the fires up and everyone hangs out together, wandering around the different fires drinking and chatting.
On Easter, as well as the usual chocolate gifts going on, they also have a special Easter meal. This is the one I missed out on. There’s special Easter ham which you eat together with horseradish and sweet bread with sultanas in it. On the side there are gherkins (of course), tomato, capsicum and other salads. Best meal of the whole year? Hmmm…
But I get it, because it’s what you grow up on that you come to love. It’s why one of my favourite desserts of all time is cooked up apple with broken up Salada on top (seriously, it’s good, you should try it). While I definitely enjoyed the meal (they froze a portion of the meat and bread and we had an Easter meal when I returned), I have to say that the Christmas cookies or November goose are still winning it for me in terms of my favourite Austrian celebration meal.
an aussie in austria 
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