Christmas might be the most classical family holiday, which makes us remember our traditions and local cultural habits, but there’s nothing bad in trying something new. Why not trying various traditional Christmas meals from other regions instead of sticking to the rules and habits you have in your own?
This is a good way to get closer to other cultures without even leaving your house and feeling the Christmas spirit in a completely new way! For this purpose, you should definitely try the following 5 international Christmas meals this winter:
1. Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth (Poland, Ukraine and Lithuania)
As well as Bulgarian, Serbian and Macedonian meal for Christmas, Poland meal consists of 12 non-meat dishes on 24th of December. On the Day of Christmas, which is 25th of December, they usually eat turkey or baked pork. What is more interesting here, though, is the set of 12 veggie dishes, which in most cases are made of potatoes, rice, flour, carrots and peppers.
2. Joulupöytä (Finland)
In Finland, the Christmas table is called Joulupöytä and consists of baked ham surrounded by various sauces like seaside food sauce, mustard sauce and tomato sauce.
As for the garnish, in Finland, people eat baked potatoes (without cutting them into pieces before putting them in the oven), as well as delicious laatikot, casseroles with liver and raisins. Christmas table in Finland also comes with expensive wine tastes.
3. Gourmet dinner in France
France and the rest of the French-speaking countries meet Christmas with numerous customs, but the gourmet tradition is the most significant one, of course.
Here, you can try some oysters, smoked salmon or maybe, lobster accompanied by potatoes and rice. The duck liver and the goose meat are most likely to be seen in rich families, while the main dish on each French Christmas table is also turkey stuffed with chestnuts.
4. Desserts from Germany
Germany is the country with the biggest number of desserts on Christmas. The table here is full of sweets and homemade cakes on 25th of December.
What is really traditional for the country (in some cities in Austria, too) is the set of Pfeffernüsse Cookies, which are very cool and always covered with powdered sugar as the symbol of snow. These cookies are always warm and very tasty!
Another German Christmas dessert is Früchtebrot – superb cake with fruits and dark flour, usually stuffed either with coffee, or with cinnamon.
5. Chiles en nogada from Mexico
In case you are looking for something really exotic, then, you need to visit Mexico to get some traditional local meal for the holiday. Most Mexicans will offer you the legendary Chiles en nogada – this is meat with great stuffing that is fire-roasted and spiced with chili peppers. The whole dish is also covered in a wonderful walnut sauce in creamy form. In addition to this, the meal has also tasty pomegranate seed garnish.
Everything sounds so yummy that we already want it to be Christmas! And what about you? Would you taste some of those?
Read more:
- The best Christmas presents for travellers
- The most beautiful Christmas markets in Europe to visit
- 5 London foods you must try
