The wedding ritual, whether it’s a civil or religious ceremony, often includes a culinary moment that involves both the couple and their guests. From the throwing of rice, which in many traditions —including the Italian one— is a sign of fertility and prosperity, to choosing a menu for the reception that ranges from traditional and auspicious dishes to those designed to impress guests, food plays a key role in the wedding rite. At Villa Ormaneto, food and love are always at the centre.
In Germany, especially in Bavaria, tradition calls for Hochzeitssuppe, a wedding soup made from broth, meat, and semolina dumplings. In Japan, a wedding soup called Ushiojiru is prepared with broth and hamaguri clams, whose joined shells symbolize the harmonious life of the couple. In China, ginkgo nuts are served, while in Iraq, marzipan sweets are offered. In the US and the UK, among others, the wedding cake is cut, a tradition with ancient roots.
In Greece, guests are given koufeta — almond, chocolate, and sugar-coated confetti in odd numbers, symbolizing the unity of the couple since odd numbers cannot be divided. In Brazil, bem casados — two cookies bound together with dulce de leche, representing the sweet union of the couple — are given to guests, who make a wish before eating. In South Korea, during the pyebaek ceremony, which involves only the families of the newlyweds, the bride brings chestnuts and dates as symbols of fertility. After the ceremony, relatives throw them back to the bride, who tries to catch as many as possible, symbolizing the number of children she will have. (Source: “Atlante di Geogastronomia” by Martina Liverani).
Food and Love at Villa Ormaneto: Wedding Cake Traditions
At Villa Ormaneto, the cutting of the cake is a special moment with a dedicated setup. The focus is on the cake, which is both dramatic and unique, and the cutting of the first slice. But where does this tradition come from? It’s believed to trace back to ancient Rome, where the groom would break a loaf of barley bread over the bride’s head as a symbol of good fortune and fertility, with guests scrambling to collect the crumbs as a token of luck.
During the Middle Ages, it became customary to bring sweets to weddings; guests would bring small loaves or cookies and stack them into a sort of mountain. The higher the mountain, the more favor for the couple. In England, this tradition evolved to include glazing the “mountain” of loaves to hold them together better. The French pastry chef Careme refined the sweet, creating the first “croquembouche” with small pastries bound together with caramel. White wedding cakes originated from Queen Victoria’s wedding cake, which measured three meters in diameter and weighed 140 kilograms. It was the first to be covered in white icing.
White represents the purity of the bride, but also the wealth of the dowry, as more refined sugar meant a larger dowry, given the high cost of refined sugar at the time. The multi-tiered cake was introduced by Leopold, who married in 1882. Regardless of the shape or type of cake, the tradition is for the bride and groom to cut the first slice together and then serve it to each other.
The symbolism of the wedding cake is rich with meaning: for instance, the circular shape recalls wedding rings, symbolizing eternal unity. The various tiers represent life’s paths or the number of children hoped for.
Lastly, a fun fact: Wedding cake toppers depicting the couple date back to the late 19th century. Originally made from resin and plaster, they began to be mass-produced in celluloid in the 1920s and became an essential decoration on wedding cakes from the 1950s onward.
