Savor the Magic of Holiday Food Traditions from Every Corner of the Globe
Written by Kaelie Piscitello
Like any American, I love tucking into a delicious Christmas dinner with pasta, meatballs, ham, and all the trimmings. I love eating my family’s famous Italian Christmas cookies and sitting down with some torrone after the feast of the seven fishes on Christmas Eve with the rest of my family. My food traditions might feel different from others, but people all over the world have countless holiday food traditions.
There is more to foreign holiday cuisine than latkes and gingerbread. Consider partaking in a new tradition like KFC at Christmas, like the Japanese, or a French yule log this Christmas. No matter what you try, you will enjoy a scrumptious treat. What is your favorite food to eat during the holidays?
German Lebkuchen
This Christmas, saddle up with some good, old-fashioned lebkuchen or German gingerbread cookies shaped and decorated for Christmas. This mouth-watering treat dates back to medieval times, and people often served it at Christmas markets and festivals.
Germans cut their gingerbread into hearts, circles, or rectangles and decorated it with sugar or chocolate coatings. No matter the shape, they always taste delicious.
Italy’s Feast of the Fishes
Many Italian Americans indulge in the feast of the seven fishes on Christmas Eve, during which they eat an abundance of seafood. Italians choose to see fish because the number seven represents the number of sacraments in Christianity.
The fish can include salted cod, calamari, clams and mussels, shrimp, eel, octopus, lobster and crab, and sometimes scallops, making for a delicious holiday feast.
French Bûche de Noël
People love holiday yule logs, but did you know they originated in France? The Bûche de Noël, as the French call it, is a delicious sponge cake or Yuletide log, symbolizing burning a real yule log in the hearth to bring prosperity in the coming year.
Many bakers fill this treat with buttercream, ganache, or mousse and decorate it with frosting resembling tree bark. Yule logs have changed over the years, and in the most recent adaptation, people fill them with ice cream!
Swedish Julbord
Swedish people also eat a large Christmas feast to bring family members from all over. They eat the julbord Eaten in distinct courses, starting with herring paired with salmon and bread. Then, they move on to the cold cuts portion.
The third course includes hot dishes with meatballs, prinskorv (small sausages), and dessert. People serve these tasty meals with beverages such as mulled wine and beer.
Hallacas from Venezuela
In Venezuela, people eat hallacas, a mix of meats combined with olives, raisins, capers, and peppers wrapped in dough and banana leaves and steamed or boiled at the holidays.
Hallacas symbolize family unity because the dish requires many generations of family members to work together to make it. Venezuelans serve hallacas with ham bread, chicken salad, and green papaya desserts.
Brazilian Rabanadas
Brazilians eat a special holiday version of French toast called bananas. This Christmas breakfast dish originated in Portugal to celebrate warmth and indulgence, and people serve it sweet and crispy on the outside and soft on the inside.
To make rabanadas, the cooks start by dipping stale bread in milk and sugar and coating it in eggs. Once they finish the toast, they top it with cinnamon, sugar, syrup, honey, and sweet wine.
KFC, like the Japanese
Fried chicken on Christmas? In 1974, a campaign called Kentucky for Christmas inspired the Japanese to eat it on Christmas because the company promoted fried chicken as a festive meal. Several Japanese citizens felt KFC filled the void of a traditional Christmas meal in Japan, and thousands of people still participate in this tradition today.
Many order the Christmas special for its festive packaging, holiday buckets, fried chicken, Christmas cake, and sometimes champagne. Because holiday meal remains popular, people must order their meals a week in advance to get their KFC.
Lechon from the Philippines
Lechon means roasted in Spanish, which suits the dish well because it involves a huge roasted pig! The pig often serves as the centerpiece for celebrations in the Philippines and some Latin American countries as a symbol of abundance and celebration.
Many people eat this meal at Christmas, too. To make it, they marinate the meat in spices, herbs, and coconut water and slow-roast it on a spit over a flame for crispy skin and tender meat. They later serve it with a liver-based sauce and black beans.
South African Malva Pudding
Yes, people do celebrate Christmas in South Africa, and when they do, they eat malva pudding! This delicious treat has a sweet, spongy texture and is served with custard or cream.
South Africans make this dish with apricot jam, sugar, and butter and love savoring its sweet and buttery caramelized crust. If you have a sweet tooth, you should try Malva pudding!
Ethiopian Doro Wat
During Christmas, people eat doro wat, a chicken stew that is a staple of Ethiopian cuisine, and Genna (Ethiopian Christmas). The stew consists of chicken, onions, garlic, ginger, and hard-boiled eggs.
Many Ethiopians enjoy doro wat with injera, a traditional sourdough flatbread. The stew represents the importance of family and community during the holiday seasons, as many help to put it together.
Middle Eastern Maamoul
While fewer people celebrate Christmas in the Middle East, many eat maamoul, or shortbread cookies filled with sweet fillings like dates, walnuts, or figs, during Islamic holidays such as Eid.
People make this dish with semolina, butter, and orange blossom or rose water for dough, then hand-press them with decorative patterns. This delicious treat represents sharing and hospitality, and people often exchange them as gifts to one another during the holidays.
Jewish Latkes
One of the best holiday treats is the delicious fried potato pancakes Jews eat during Hanukkah, latkes. To make them, people grate potatoes with onions, eggs, and flour or matzah and fry them in oil to represent the candle that burned for eight days.
After making the latkes for dinner, Jews top these balls of goodness with sour cream or applesauce and enjoy them with their friends over the eight nights of Hanukkah.
Australian Barbecue
Believe it or not, Christmas happens during Australia’s summer. So, many Australians host Christmas barbecues outdoors in backyards, parks, or beaches. Australians consider Christmas dinner a casual, fun meal, and they eat grilled meats like sausages, steaks, lamb, and chicken. Australians also cook their turkeys and hams on the grill.
Beyond barbecued food, Australians also eat seafood dishes like shrimp, lobster, crabs, and oysters. They also indulge in veggies like corn and zucchini and pair desserts like pavlova and ice cream with beer, wine, and cocktails.
No matter where you live in the world, the holidays are about togetherness, and you will always have an abundance of delicious food in abundance to feast upon.
