Home for the Holidays
Every culture prepares for big days, in every room of the house. In the kitchen, recipes reserved for celebratory seasons are consulted, and shopping lists made.
In Buffalo, that means traditional potato pancakes, up to a dozen dishes for Polish Wigilia, mugs of steaming Tom & Jerrys, eggnog’s hot, foamy cousin, and much more. Andrew Galarneau, BA '88, will offer a brief primer on these and players to be named later.
Then he'll ask you to share. If your family celebrates with a particular dish, please present it. Galarneau wants you to get a picture you can share with us. If possible, a recipe, and any information about how long this recipe has been made, and if possible its origin story. If you have the recipe, you could even pop it in the chat.
That way we can all have the chance to start another holiday tradition.
Also: If you have questions for him, about restaurants, cooking, or other subjects, he will be happy to swing at your pitches.
About Andrew Galarneau
Born in Chicago, Andrew Galarneau grew up in Genesee County. His parents and five siblings built a house overlooking Indian Falls, where Route 77 crosses Tonawanda Creek. He worked for the Phelps farm for a few summers, to his lasting benefit, including a minor arrowhead collection.
A 1983 graduate of Pembroke High School, he attended the University at Buffalo. In 1985, he was the second staff member of Generation, a student-produced weekly feature magazine offered through Sub Board One, a student services corporation funded by undergraduate fees. He wrote a back-page column as Bitter Twisted.
In 1988, he parlayed student journalism experience and two Buffalo News internships into a reporter position at the Concord (N.H.) Monitor. He covered a felony courthouse for the St. Petersburg (Fla.) Times (now Tampa Bay Times), and was an investigative reporter for the Lowell (Mass.) Sun. Hired by The Buffalo News in 1997, he wrote features, investigative reporting, and reviews for 25 years, the last 13 as food editor and restaurant critic.
On Dec. 1, 2023, he launched Four Bites, at FourBites.net. It’s a Buffalo-based food magazine plus concierge information service plus a soupçon of investigative reporting. The news is free, including his Sunday News column, with openings, closings, specials, events, and reader questions with answers. For $50 per year, patrons get the reviews and other fancy stuff.
Read it on the Substack app, or direct to your inbox. So far, the results are encouraging.