It’s that time of year again—holiday party time—and I can’t think of a better way to kick off a column on international food than a discussion of a delectable little phenomenon I like to call the holiday-party hybrid. Some years ago, inspired in part by an instant-cultural-phenomenon episode…

“Where are you from, honey?” the woman asked as she ushered me into her home and gave me a lunch bag filled with homemade cookies. “New York,” I said. “And I’ve never seen anything like this before.” “That’s because New York doesn’t have any Sicilians,” she countered. Pace Vito Corleone, Tony…