Christmas is the great time of the year we gather with family and friends. What better way to enjoy the festivities than with excellent food. Check out some of the most interesting Christmas dinner traditions that make the holiday special on around the world.
Italy
The Feast of the Seven Fishes—also known as Festa Dei Sette Pesci—is a famous Christmas tradition in Italy. The dinner consists of a seven-course menu featuring seafood dishes like carp, octopus, clams, mussels—and even fried eel! The final course is reserved for classic Italian desserts like Panettone or homemade Tiramisu.
France
Le Réveillon is the name of a Christmas Eve dinner. The French prefer to savor seafood during the Christmas holiday. Common dishes include oysters, prawns and lobster. And let’s not forget the famed dessert Buche de Noel, a delicious chocolate cake in the shape of a log.
Germany
The Germans dine on roasted duck, goose or rabbit as their main course for Christmas dinner. On the side are favorites like sausage stuffing, potato dumplings and red cabbage. The country’s most-loved holiday dessert is Stollen, a long, flat sweetened bread that’s similar to a fruitcake.
New Zealand
Christmas dinner in New Zealand is usually lamb barbecued or roasted in an underground pit oven. Besides lamb, the meal includes vegetables, stuffing, and potatoes. For dessert New Zealanders, like Australians, usually, enjoy Pavlova.
Spain
In Spain, there is a large Christmas Eve dinner as well as a Christmas Day lunch. Seafood is traditional, but roast turkey is also popular. Spain’s traditional holiday sweets include turrón, or nougat, which can either be brittle or soft and polvorones, which are soft, crumbly shortbread cookies.