Pierogi is a Christmas Eve staple in Poland. Photo / 123rf
Pierogi is a Christmas Eve staple in Poland. Photo / 123rf
Across the globe everyone has a different way of doing festive gatherings. Here are some of them.
Festive feasts take on many forms around the world, with flavours, ingredients and traditions reflecting local cultures and histories. Whether it’s spicy stews, sweet breads or seafood extravaganzas, these dishes are a window into festive celebrations from every corner of the globe.
Europe
Italy: Italy’s regions all have their own food preferences but you’ll find the Feast of the Seven Fishes, a southern Italian Christmas Eve tradition, on the menu in many households. It features an array of seafood dishes, symbolising abstinence from meat. Staples include baccala (salt cod, often fried or simmered with tomatoes and olives), calamari, and stuffed mussels. On Christmas Day, lasagne layered with rich meat sauce and creamy bechamel takes centre stage, especially in the northeast. For dessert, panettone – a dome-shaped sweet bread studded with dried fruits – or pandoro, a golden, star-shaped cake, are served with mascarpone or sweet cream.
A hearty lasagne is a festive favourite in Italy's northeast.
Germany: Christmas dinner often includes roast goose or duck, cooked until the skin is perfectly crisp. It’s accompanied by red cabbage braised with apples and spices, and potato dumplings known as kloße, served with a rich gravy. For dessert, stollen, a fruit-filled bread dusted with icing sugar, is a holiday favourite.
Poland: The Christmas Eve meal, called Wigilia, is a 12-course feast symbolising the 12 apostles. It’s traditionally meatless, featuring dishes such as beet soup (barszcz) served with mushroom dumplings (uszka), and fried carp, often accompanied by sauerkraut and mushroom pierogi. Dessert might include makowiec, a poppy seed roll, or kutia, a sweet grain pudding with honey and nuts.
The Americas
United States: Christmas dinner varies regionally but often features roasted turkey, glazed ham or prime rib. For sweet treats, Christmas cookies steal the show, with intricately decorated sugar cookies, spicy gingerbread men and peppermint bark layered with dark and white chocolate.
Americans go big on turkey over the festive period.
Mexico: Festivities revolve around tamales – corn dough filled with meats, cheeses, or vegetables, wrapped in corn husks and steamed. Bacalao a la vizcaina features salt cod simmered with tomatoes, olives and capers, while romeritos combine greens with mole sauce, often served with shrimp. For a sweet ending, bunuelos – thin, crispy fritters – are drizzled with syrup or dusted with cinnamon sugar.
Brazil: Christmas meals often include a whole roast turkey or pork loin, marinated with citrus and herbs, served with farofa - a toasted cassava flour mixture with butter, bacon and nuts. Rice is another staple, often studded with raisins or nuts, while tropical fruits such as mangoes and pineapple add a bright touch.
South Africa: With Christmas falling in summer, festive meals often revolve around outdoor braais (barbecues). Lamb chops, boerewors (a spiced sausage), and grilled prawns are paired with salads and fresh bread. For dessert, malva pudding, a sticky sponge cake made with apricot jam and served with custard, is a sweet finish.
South African sausage, or boerewors, is often on the Christmas menu. Photo / Paul Estcourt
Ethiopia: Christmas, or Genna, is celebrated on January 7 with a communal feast. The star dish is doro wat, a rich, spicy chicken stew flavoured with berbere spice and slow-cooked onions, served with injera - a tangy, spongy flatbread used to scoop up the stew.
Morocco: Christmas isn’t widely celebrated, but festive tables might include b’stilla, a layered pie of spiced meat (often pigeon or chicken), and harira, a rich tomato-based soup with lentils, chickpeas and lamb. Sweet treats such as almond cookies called gazelle horns and spiced mint tea provide the perfect end.
Middle East
Lebanon: In Lebanon, Christian festive tables feature kibbeh – a dish of minced meat and bulgur - often alongside stuffed grape leaves and roasted lamb. Sweet treats such as maamoul, shortbread cookies filled with dates or nuts, and a generous spread of fresh fruits are common.
Iraq: Spiced rice dishes such as pilaf and slow-cooked lamb stews are paired with festive bread flavoured with cardamom and sesame in the Christian community.
Asia-Pacific
Japan: Surprisingly, Christmas in Japan is synonymous with KFC. The “Kentucky for Christmas” tradition started in the 1970s as a marketing campaign and has since become a festive ritual. Families share buckets of fried chicken, paired with a side of Christmas cake - a light sponge layered with whipped cream and strawberries.
The Philippines: The Noche Buena (Christmas Eve) feast is a lively gathering featuring lechon, a whole roast pig with crisp crackling, and queso de bola, a ball of aged Edam cheese often served alongside cold cuts. For dessert, bibingka steals the spotlight - a rice cake baked in banana leaves and topped with salted egg, coconut and butter.
Fiji:Christmas in Fiji is a tropical affair, often centred around a lovo – an underground oven where meats like pork and chicken, along with root vegetables such as taro, are slow-cooked to perfection. Coconut-based dishes, fresh seafood and tropical fruits such as papaya and pineapple complete the meal.
