6 'Christmas' Food Traditions from Around the World

As Christmas is around the corner, it won’t be easy for anyone to go out to eat, in large part due to the fact that we are still in the middle of a pandemic. Despite this, it’s common for people to have traditions based on cooking/baking on Christmas (or associated holidays);  so with that, let’s look at a few traditional ‘Christmas’ foods from around the world. 

Puerto Rico

One of the most important food traditions around Christmas time is lechon, or roast suckling pig. It is a regional specialty that takes a very long time to prepare – leading to a whole weekend gathering. Other typical dishes include tembleque - a coconut-based coquito - and a Puerto Rican version of eggnog, infused with coconut.

France

France has always been well known for its exquisite dishes. Two very popular dishes that are served on Christmas dinner are oysters and foie gras. The main dish is usually meat - like capon, turkey, guinea fowl, or pheasant - all usually roasted and stuffed with chestnuts. Bushe de Noel, the French of a Yule Log, is the biggest treat of the night; rice cakes, decorated with tiny meringue mushrooms and other treats made to look like items found in a forest. The most popular flavor is chestnut, but you can get the cake in any flavor.

The Philippines

Christmas dinner in the Philippines contains many traditional dishes. The biggest star dish is puto bumbong; a sweet, glutinous mixture of black and white rice that appears purple. The rice is soaked in salt water overnight, then inserted into a tube of bamboo, and steamed and served with butter, sugar, and shredded coconut. Roasted suckling pig is a huge Christmas meal, as well as ham. Other traditional dishes include pancit malabon, a yellow noodle dish flavored with annatto seed; Filipino-style spaghetti, which is made with a very sweet sauce; and buko pandan, which is pandan-flavored gelatin mixed with coconut and cream.

Montenegro

Very religious people in Montenegro will fast for the 40 days leading up to Christmas dinner, but most people just fast on Christmas Eve. Once they stop fasting, Christmas dinner is a meatless, dairy-free meal that usually includes dishes made with beans, fish, and potatoes. One main dish is kutia, cooked wheat mixed with honey, ground poppy seeds, raisins, and chopped nuts to symbolize unity. They also eat dumplings called varenyky, which are like pierogies.

Italy

Southern Italy, as well as  Italian American families, eat a traditional Christmas feast called Feast of the Seven Fishes. It consists of seven seafood dishes, symbolic of the number seven that is repeated in the bible. Popular choices include  baccala (salt cod), baked cod, fried calamari, fried shrimp, linguine with clam or lobster sauce, octopus’ salad, and shrimp cocktail. However, most of Italy usually celebrates with panettone, a sweet bread made with candied peel, sultana, raisins, and dried fruits. 

Mexico 

It is a tradition in Mexico to eat dinner late at night with family on Christmas Eve. The following meal includes typical dishes like tamales, bacalao (dried salt cod), pozole (a soup made of pork or chicken with garlic and chile), and bunuelos, fried dough with sugar. However, on January 6th, they celebrate El Dia de los Reyes (Day of the Three Kings), a height of the Christmas season, where families eat a special cake called Three Kings cake or Twelfth Night cake.