Holidays celebrations are getting closer and, with them, the delicious Christmas food. The season is a special moment in many places around the globe, each with its traditional dishes for this time of the year.
What’s your favorite Christmas food? We’ve put together some examples of different kinds of traditions of the celebration. Check it out:
Christmas food #1 — France
The French like to invest a lot in Christmas dinner: caviar, foie gras, lobster, oysters, and champagne are often present at the Christmas table in France. In addition to roast turkey, it is common for the main dish to be roast lamb, duck or goose.
However, the must-have of the celebration is the trunk cake or bûche de Noël, a traditional kind of chocolate cake covered and decorated, resembling a tree trunk.
Christmas food #2 — Japan
Despite not being a Christian country, the Japanese celebrate the date and have their traditions. It is very common, for example, to have Christmas food served in restaurants with fried chicken as the main course, served with salad and mashed potatoes.
Talking about dessert, the star of the holiday season is the Japanese Christmas cake, a type of sponge cake covered in snow-white whipped cream and topped with strawberries.
Christmas food #3 — South Africa
In South Africa, Christmas dinner is celebrated outdoors, usually on the beach. It is common to serve roasted turkey or duck alongside sauces or stuffing made with fruits, nuts, and spices.
In addition, lamb meat, rice with spices, vegetables, fruits, and, for dessert, the classic malva pudding, a creamy cake made with apricots jam, topped with a cream sauce when the cake is still hot, often accompanied by vanilla ice cream.
Christmas food #4 — Russia
In Russia, Christmas is celebrated on January 7th because of the Eastern Orthodox Church calendar. At supper time, in addition to vodka, which cannot be missing, the traditional zakuski are served, which is actually a group of dishes with different kinds of cold and hot appetizers made with salmon, sardines, and caviar.
Christmas food #5 — Argentina
Barbecue is the main choice of Argentines for Christmas dinner, served with various salads, stuffed tomatoes, as well as roasted turkey and pork.
The main Christmas food, however, is the traditional vitél toné, a thinly sliced veal served with tuna and a sauce. At dessert, they eat panettone (fruit cake) and the classic Argentinian chocotorta, a no-bake, dulce de leche layered cake.
Christmas food #6 — Australia
Due to the warm weather this time of the year, Australians celebrate Christmas with a barbecue of prawns, beef, lamb, and chicken. To accompany, refreshing salads, sauces and fruits are served.
When it comes to dessert, pavlova comes in many different flavors, in addition to ice cream and different types of pudding. Light cakes, puff pastry, and fruit are also famous favorites.
Christmas food #7 — Italy
As a place with a strong and many culinary traditions, the typical Christmas food in Italy can be different all over the country, but there are more common dishes as capelletti soup, and seafood options such as octopus, squid, shrimp and shellfish, always accompanied by a good pasta and salad.
A good sparkling wine cannot be missing and, for dessert, panettone (fruit cake), nougat and pandoro, a star-shaped vanilla cake, originally from nothern Italy.
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