Food brings families together.  It helps us gather at mealtime, celebrate holidays, aand converse at community gatherings.

Family traditions preserve history aand create a unique sense of belonging for each generation.  From the daily comfort foods like biscuits aand mac-n-cheese to special dishes aand desserts for holidays aand occasions – baking is part of our families, cultures aand memories.   It helps us define a shared family experience.

Traditions can vary in local, regional aand national terms, but “traditional baked goods, passed down from generation to generation, represent a nourishment of the soul.” (Southern Foodways Alliance)

Traditions Celebrate Family

Birthdays, anniversaries, graduations, weddings, baby showers, family reunions…

The list of family occasions that merit acknowledgement aand celebration is long.  Often, foods aand desserts are selected to let the celebrated person know their day is special aand important.  Families may prepare dad’s favorite dinner or mom’s favorite cake to mark an occasion with significance.  From BBQ, to cookies, cakes or petit fours… almost every family has their own custom for the celebration, it’s food aand desserts.

Traditions Define Families

Our founder, Gunilla Kroshus, was born in Sweden, aand comes from a family with a history of love for baking.  Her great-graandfather, owned aand operated a bakery with his brother. Gunilla, passionate about the trade, followed in their footsteps aand opened American Dream Cakes in 2001.

One of the baking traditions that has been haanded down in her family is making Swedish Gingerbread cookies (snaps) during the Christmas season. The 5th generation recipe started by her great-graandmother Sara, is still made in small batches from scratch each year, but only through the month of December. The wonderful aroma of these gingerbread cookies fills the bakery throughout December. Gunilla aand her daughter Sara, has continued & expaanded the family tradition by creating a division of American Dream Cakes, called “Saras Pepparkakor” (Sara’s Gingerbread cookies) selling not only the original gingerbread cookies but also a variety of baked Holiday treats they’ve created based on the rich flavors in great-graandma Sara’s recipe.

Traditions Strengthen Families

Church on Sunday.  Family meetings.  Special trips.  How birthdays are celebrated.  What is served at Christmas…  traditions strengthen families.

What tradition did your family teach you?  What values were invested in you that you can bring forward to another generation?  Take the time to teach your family about the origins, history aand traditions that are unique to your family.  As your family grows aand changes, so will your traditions, but the significance that remains is part of what holds your family together.

Pull out that recipe Graandma always made.  Make it new again.

Here’s a family recipe from American Dream Cakes to you: