Disney Spent 300 Hours Making This Home Alone Gingerbread House
There is nothing that gets people feeling more nostalgic around Christmastime than classic holiday movies and some delicious Christmas cookies. No two things go hand-in-hand better than the devilishly fun classic Home Alone with Macaulay Culkin and Joe Pesci and gingerbread cookies. Knowing this, Disney decided to celebrate the 30-year anniversary of the holiday classic with a very unique take on the gingerbread house (via Instagram).
According to Food & Wine, Disney brought on UK-based food artist Michelle Wibowo to recreate the iconic and unforgettable McCallister home. The house, which was the centerpiece of the movie, was built entirely out of gingerbread, frosting, and other edible decor. Wibowo was said to have spent almost 300 hours creating this model version of the home that included 63 trees, 33 windows, 14 pizza boxes, and mini versions of the film's lead actors. The McCallister's gingerbread home clocks in at a measurement of an astounding four feet wide and almost six feet long. Wibowo even added a tiny version of the treehouse Kevin (Culkin's character) used in the film.
Gingerbread houses have Germanic roots
A PBS report cites that this quintessential holiday treat dates back to 16th century Germany where detailed cookie-walled houses first became associated with Christmas. But it wasn't until the Brothers Grimm published their indelible Hansel and Gretel story (which featured a house made of treats) that the concept and practice of gingerbread houses really took off.
Prior to this, PBS reports that gingerbread was merely used to make hard cookies. The first known recipe for making gingerbread was said to come from Greece around 2400 BC. As ginger was a popular spice in China, there are recipes that were said to have been developed as far back as the 10th century, but by the Middle Ages, much of Europe already had their own take on how to make gingerbread. Gingerbread didn't arrive in the New World until the English made the choice to jump the pond. But thank goodness it eventually did, otherwise we would never have enjoyed the masterpiece that is the Home Alone gingerbread home.