7 Christmas Dishes Eaten Globally

Ricesome
Dec 22, 2023
4 min read

Tis the season of holidays! You know what it means: star decor, rhyming carols, and every company's logo and mascot having a Santa hat or the chimney intruder himself. All of a sudden everyone is in the mood for cinnamon-flavoured stuff, having trees with pests inside our house, and sharing gifts with friends and family that you bought at the last minute.....

You might think that I have never personally experienced Christmas before and you would be correct. I might be a cynic for celebrations in general, but never for the opportunity to experience and be aware of the different dishes eaten during this time. Christmas is a time for family, for celebration, to be with people that you love and care about.....except for some of you who might be stuck at work during this time. (I empathize with you)

Here are some Christmas dishes that bring people together around the world:

1. Doro Wat (Ethiopia)

Doro wat is a thick and spicy stew that contains meat, vegetables, and eggs and is usually eaten with flatbread. It is considered to be one of the national dishes of Ethiopia. One of Ethiopia's famous spice blends (Berbere) forms the base of this dish. I didn't know that Ethiopia celebrated Christmas before this....guess I'm on the dark side.

2. Panettone (Italy)

Panettone translates to "Big Bread". You might have heard about this famous and classic rich Italian bread that consists of raisins and candied fruits. Originating from Milan, the distinctive characteristic of this bread/fruitcake is that it is hung upside down after it is taken out of the oven. This creates the iconic big alveolar holes and texture in the bread that people seem to go crazy for. Another popular and similar bread from Italy is Pandoro, a rich bread that is covered with icing sugar and is also eaten during Christmas.

3. Töltött Káposzta (Hungary)

Töltött Káposzta (tol-tot ka-poz-ta....I hope that you never have to pronounce this name in your life) is a stuffed cabbage roll of minced pork, onions, garlic and tomato stuffed inside a pickled cabbage. This Hungarian dish is sometimes also flavoured with paprika.

4. Bûche de Noël(France)

Bûche de Noël is a cake that is shaped like a Yule log and served during this time to symbolise good luck. In France, it is customary to take a wooden log from a fruit tree and keep it in the house for a successful harvest in the year to come. Eventually, this tradition faded away, but some RAF individual decided to make a cake that resembled this log. This Christmas dessert is made by rolling a Swiss roll sponge filled with buttercream, coating it with a silky ganache, and giving it a design that resembles a wooden log.

5. Kentucky for Christmas (Japan)

An ad campaign during 1974 called "Kentucky for Christmas" run by KFC was so effective and popular that people eat fried chicken for Christmas so much in Japan that it is followed to date. According to CNN Travel, KFC in Japan sells 5x to 10x more fried chicken on December 24th than on a typical day. On KFC's official website, they state that the original idea for the campaign came when a foreign customer who visited KFC in Tokyo on Christmas day said, “I can’t get turkey in Japan, so I have no choice but to celebrate Christmas with Kentucky Fried Chicken”. This campaign became a tradition in Japan and lives on to this day.

6. Vitel Toné (Argentina)

This unusual Christmas dish consists of sliced veal drenched in a sauce that is flavoured with anchovy and tuna and is topped with capers. This dish is originally from Italy and is called Vitello Tonnato. This dish is either served cold or at room temperature. This might seem weird for some people from some countries or cultures; to eat meat smothered in a cold creamy sauce....but who are we to judge anyone's celebration? I am curious to taste it though.

7. Appam & Beef Curry (India)

From the southernmost state in India, this dish is considered to be a celebratory food in Kerala. Kerala has a substantial amount of Syrian Christians, and Christmas is celebrated extravagantly and widely in this state. This dish consists of an Appam, a "pancake" made from fermented rice and coconut and the batter is swivelled around in a small kadai to achieve its shape and texture. These pancakes are eaten with a spicy curry with beef, which is a very popular meat in this region.

The dishes that I have mentioned here have one thing in common....they all represent our desire to celebrate the end of the year with a feast to cherish good times. Each of these dishes represents how people celebrate good times with food or associate food with good times spent with family and friends. Food brings people together and reminds us of fond memories. So, let's all eat during these holidays till we can pop, and not worry about our calorie counts. Workout resolutions only matter after New Year's and that too till the first week, so let's not give in to pressure!

See you next week.....and Merry Christmas!

RICESOME