CHRISTMAS FOOD CUSTOMS AROUND THE WORLD

Christmas Food

Argentina:
• After attending Midnight mass on Christmas Eve, a traditional meal would include roast pig, turkey and pan dulce (a sweet Christmas bread).
• Christmas occurs during the summertime and many families barbecue Christmas dinner or spend the day at the beach.

Australia:
• On Christmas Eve snacks are left out for Father Christmas (cookies and milk, or maybe some beer?) and water for the kangaroos that pull his sleigh while in Australian airspace.

Belgium:
• Belgium’s French-speaking Wallonia region traditional Christmas table includes black and white puddings, pressed pig’s head, and pigs’ ears and trotters (feet).

Canada:
• In Newfoundland on St. Stephen's Day (December 26) Catholic families would have a dish made with dried, salted cod named 'Christmas Fish.'

Denmark:
• Nowadays the favorite Christmas dish in Denmark is roast goose stuffed with apples and prunes and garnished with red cabbage, caramelized potatoes, and cranberry sauce.

France:
• Bûche De Noël (Yule Log) traditional French Christmas cake Made of a sheet of genoise that is spread with mocha or chocolate buttercream, rolled into a log shape and covered with more buttercream. The surface is ridged to resemble the bark of a log
• Christmas Boudin Blanc dates from the Middle Ages: A kind of white-meat sausage sold in France mostly during the Christmas period.
• Rissoles, traditionally eaten at Christmas: a small pastry filled with roast turkey and tripe flavored with currants.

Germany:
• According to German tradition, partaking in a roast of pork dinner on Christmas Eve will prevent evil and promote prosperity in the New Year.
• The Germans tend to have a game feast on Christmas day, usually wild boar or venison.
• Carp remains a particular favorite in Germany, where it's cooked in beer for Christmas Eve and in red wine for New Year’s Eve.
• Roast goose stuffed with apples is also very popular.
• Germany is also noted for its sweet yeast breads: Christmas Stollen, rich loaves studded with dried fruit, and Kugelhupf, light yeast cakes with dried and candied fruit baked in a fluted ring mold.
• Lebkuchen - A spicy, frosted cooky, similar to gingerbread, and served during the Christmas season.

Ireland:
• The traditional Irish Christmas Eve dinner is the 'Black Fast' of boiled salt cod and potatoes.
• In Ireland there are 3 special puddings made for the holidays; one for Christmas, one for New Year's and another for Twelfth Night.
• Turkey with whiskey glaze - whiskey and honey together with a splash of orange will give an impressive and great tasting twist to the traditional bird.

Italy:
• Tortellini is a speciality of the Bolognese Christmas dinner (filled with turkey, ham, and sausage forcemeat).
• Cappelletti (little hats): small dumplings in the shape of a peaked hat; traditionally served on Christmas day.
• Eels are a traditional dish served on Christmas Eve
• North of Venice in Friuli, sweet gnocchi, flavored with raisins, cocoa and cinnamon are a traditional Christmas treat.

Jamaica:
• Christmas dinner usually consists of rice, gungo peas, chicken, ox tail and curried goat.

Mexico:
• In Oaxaca, Mexico, Christmas Eve is also the Night of the Radishes, when large radishes are cut into animal shapes.

Netherlands:
• The Dutch eat chicken stuffed with sauerkraut at Christmas to mark the end the year and celebrate the beginning of the New Year. The reason for chicken? Because the animal scratches the ground, it symbolizes scratching the earth over the old year.

Norway:
• Julekaka, Christmas Bread, is a favorite in Norway. It is a sweet yeast raised bread flavored with cardamom, citron and raisins.
• The big festive feast takes place on Christmas Eve. Most people around the coastal regions eat fish - concoctions of cod and haddock and a variety called lutefisk. Inland they go for pork chops, specially prepared sausages and occasionally lamb.

Poland:
• The traditional Christmas Eve supper consists of 12 non-meat dishes, representing the months of the year and featuring fish such as pike, herring and carp.
• Other typical Polish dishes are fish soup, sauerkraut with wild mushrooms or peas and Polish dumplings with various fillings.

Scandinavia:
• Lutefisk: A Scandinavian dish of unsalted dried codfish soaked in lye before cooking and traditionally served with a cream sauce at Christmas.
• Cured ham, often elaborately dressed, is an essential element of the Christmas smorgasbord in Scandinavia
• White cardamom is used to season baked goods like Christmas stollen, cakes, cookies, muffins and buns.

Scotland:
• Rich tatties and neeps - a traditional dish made with mashed potatoes, Swede, carrots, onion and butter, garnished with chives and black pepper.

Sweden:
• Hiding an almond inside rice pudding is a Christmas custom in Sweden. Whoever gets it has good luck for the new year.
• Glogg, a hot punch of Swedish origin, is frequently made with red wine and contains spices, almonds, and raisins.

United Kingdom:
• At the time of Elizabeth I, the Christmas menu consisted of a boar's head, spicy beer in which baked apples were steeped, stuffed pike and mead, syllabub, and dried fruit.
• In Queen Victoria's day, oranges were a treasured Christmas gift in England.
• In old English tradition, a flaming stuffed boar's head was always brought to the table at Christmas banquets.
• Traditional British Christmas dinner: Hot punch, roast turkey or goose, Christmas pudding, flambéed and accompanied by brandy butter or sauce, mince pies, and then port served with the cheese.
• The majority of families (90%) around the UK consider turkey a Christmas tradition. According to the British Turkey Information Service, UK residents consumed 10 million turkeys in 2000 for Christmas, along with 25 million Christmas puddings, 250 million pints of beer and 35 million bottles of wine.

Wales:
• Leek and onion sauce to accompany the turkey. Leeks, onion, cloves, breadcrumbs, milk, nutmeg and bay leaves blended to create a thick and creamy alternative to ordinary bread sauce.

Note: These fun Christmas facts and trivia are about the secular aspects of this day, and are not in any way intended to trivialize this important Christian Holy Day.

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