58. Like many Canadians, my immigrant ancestors are not too far in the past. My grandparents were Germans from Russia, and a specialty on holiday tables was kuchen, which we pronounced something like "coo-huhn".
What type of a food was it?
From Quiz I'll Be Home for Christmas Dinner!
Answer:
A kind of cake
"Kuchen" is just a German word for "cake" but to Germans from Russia who settled in the prairie and great plains regions of Canada and the US, it's a specific kind of custard cake, usually with fruit such as rhubarb or plums, sometimes with cottage cheese. In our house, it was only made at Christmas.
My ethnic community, sometimes known as Black Sea Germans, emigrated to Russia during the time of Catherine the Great. For the most part, they kept their own language and religion, and settled in small tightly knit groups. By the late 19th century, conditions were not so favourable, and they left for North America in large numbers.