Gingerbread cookies are an extremely fun and sweet treat that kids and adults alike can make. However, there is a varied and multicultural history behind these sweet treats that not many people know about. It dates back to the time of Queen Elizabeth I, but the gingerbread cookie also has a prominent story in Germany as well. The gingerbread man character, often the shape of the cookies, comes from a folktale meant for kids, with a surprisingly dark lesson.
The gingerbread man folktale comes from an issue of St. Nicholas Magazine in 1875. The story starts off deep in the woods with an old family with no children. To solve this problem of loneliness the woman makes a boy out of gingerbread as an alternative for the son. This gingerbread man has a mind of his own though, as he runs away from his maker, a cow and a hungry owl, all while yelling his famous phrase, “Run, run as fast as you can. You can’t catch me, I’m the gingerbread man.” He then comes across a sly fox that deceives the gingerbread man into dropping his guard by saying he looks like he would taste gross. That precise moment is when the fox struck, devouring the gingerbread man. However lighthearted this children story seems, it carries a much more serious and useful lesson of being aware of who you trust.
The story gained so much notoriety and fame that the gingerbread cookies across the world became famously shaped into gingerbread men. However even before that, the first ever gingerbread men were made by cooks under the order of Queen Elizabeth I. She told her cooks to mold gingerbread biscuits into her favorite advisors and give them to her guests. This is not the gingerbread man we all know and picture in our minds, but they are technically the earliest gingerbread men.
On a technicality, because the gingerbread men Queen Elizabeth I had made were biscuits, the first actual specific gingerbread cookie was made in Nuremberg, Germany.
In the 1600s, Nuremberg was dubbed, “the gingerbread capital of the world,” because of their widely created gingerbread cookies. These gingerbread cookies, called lebkuchen, took the form of a heart and contained messages of affection within them. The first recipe of how to make gingerbread cookies is displayed in Nuremberg, in the Germanic National Museum.
Another fun activity involving gingerbread cookies, is the Christmas tradition of creating gingerbread houses. The creation of gingerbread houses are inspired by the Brothers Grimm, Jacob and Wilhelm tale of Hansel and Gretel. Specifically, they come from the witch’s house in the story, which is told to be made out of candy. The houses became popular in America from German immigrants bringing the tradition to Lancaster County, Pennsylvania.
The gingerbread man, gingerbread cookies and gingerbread houses are holiday staples during Christmas time. Kid or adult, making gingerbread men are a great way to spend the holiday season with family and friends.
