There’s something special about holiday food. Maybe it’s the power of nostalgia. Maybe it’s pride in your family’s traditions. Maybe it’s the time invested in making complex recipes. Or maybe it’s the fact that holiday food is just plain delicious.
Let’s dive into some global holiday food traditions. And if you run a restaurant, consider adding your own holiday dishes to the menu! Some customers love the chance to taste a special occasion meal they’ve never tried before—and others will just be glad they didn’t have to do the cooking (or the dishes).
French holiday food traditions: Oysters and Bûche de Noël
Did you know France is Europe’s leading producer of oysters? They’re a traditional delicacy served at Christmastime. While many varieties are available, the finest are considered to be Marennes-Oléron oysters PGI. These special oysters are raised en claire: in shallow clay ponds that mingle fresh water and salt water as the tide comes in and goes out. The oysters have a greenish tint and a distinct nutty flavor, and they’re typically served raw.
For dessert, there’s Bûche de Noël. This is a thin sponge cake slathered with chocolate whipped cream, then rolled up and frosted to resemble a log. Dust with powdered sugar for a snowy look or go all out with chocolate bark and meringue mushrooms.
Japanese holiday food traditions: KFC fried chicken and Osechi Ryori
In 1974, the owner of Japan’s first Kentucky Fried Chicken franchise came up with an advertising campaign: “Kentucky is Christmas!” Few people in Japan celebrate Christmas, but the idea of having fried chicken on December 25th caught on. Today, you have to reserve your KFC Christmas meal far in advance, or wait in long lines to get yours. The classic choice is the Christmas Pack, with original-recipe chicken, sides, and a holiday cake.
A (much) older holiday food tradition in Japan:eating Osechi Ryori on New Year’s Day. “It is considered the most important meal of the year as each dish serves as well-wishes for the coming year,” explains cooking blogger Namiko Chen. Osechi Ryori consists of several beautifully made dishes packed in stacking lacquer boxes called ojubako. These can include New Year’s soup made with mochi, which varies by region; candied chestnuts and sweet potatoes (kuri kinton); pickled lotus root; and decorative fish cakes (kamaboko).
Mexican holiday food traditions: Tamales and pozole
In Mexico, holiday festivities begin with Las Posadas (The Inns), a religious festival from December 16-24 that recreates Mary and Joseph’s search for shelter before Jesus’s birth. Las Posadas and Christmas food traditions include:
Tamales: Corn dough (masa) wrapped around fillings and steamed in corn husks
Pambazos: Hearty sandwiches of telera bread that’s dipped in guajillo sauce, then fried and filled with chorizo and potato
Churros: Crispy fried dough sticks covered with cinnamon and sugar
One special treat is pozole, a hearty stew of hominy, meat, chiles and peppers. The simplest version is blanco (white), while verde blends in tomatillos and rojo adds puréed dried chiles.
Filipino holiday food traditions
In the Philippines, Christmas Eve is known as Noche Buena, or Good Night. This is when families gather to enjoy traditional holiday foods. Dinner includes two must-have meats: lechon, a whole-roasted pig, and hamon, a Christmas ham glazed with pineapple or other fruit. Another option: lechon kawali, which is deep-fried crispy pork belly.
Another Filipino holiday treat is bibingka, a cake made from fermented sticky rice, coconut milk, water, and sugar and cooked in a terra-cotta container with banana leaves.
Italian holiday food traditions: Fish and more fish
A traditional Italian Christmas Eve dinner is meatless, but by no means modest. Expect multiple seafood courses, with and without pasta, until you’re absolutely stuffed. Like most food in Italy, holiday meals vary a lot by region. In Sicily, you’re likely to have sardine pasta and sfinci, fried dough balls. In Calabria, families eat 13 different dishes, representing Jesus and the 12 apostles. Fried or baked salt cod will be on the menu, alongside pasta with breadcrumbs and anchovies.
In Campania, which includes Naples, people eat seafood salad with lemon juice, olive oil, and parsley, followed by clam or lobster spaghetti, fried shrimp and squid, and eel. Another delightful Italian holiday dish from Campania is l’insalata di rinforzo, or reinforcement salad, which is a pickled mixture of cauliflower, stuffed red bell peppers, olives, capers, and anchovies. Traditionally, it’s made on Christmas Eve and then “reinforced” by adding more vegetables until New Year’s.
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