The celebration of Christmas is a special occasion anywhere in the world. Everyone prepares for it with excitement, because it's not just about love, but also about a bountiful table, delicious and special food. But different nations have very different culinary traditions for their end-of-year meals. Some are quite simple, but others seem rather bizarre to Hungarian eyes. Let's wander around the world and see if they don't eat fish soup, bejgli, stuffed cabbage or turkey, what do they eat?
Poland
They take their Christmas traditions very seriously, raw materials. They hold real feasts. Not surprisingly, they have 10 to 12 course dinners, but they don't eat until meat, until the first star comes up in the sky. There are many similarities with our menu, as they prefer fish, fried and stuffed, and mushroom dishes are typical. You can't miss The table is set with peppercorn soup (usually made with beetroot), zurek soup (a hearty potato soup) and lots of fruit, jams and sauces. Stuffed pasta, or pierogi, is a traditional dish of Polish cuisine and is also a festive dish. As for pastries, they also serve bejgli, gingerbread and the traditional Polish tart, mazurek, at the end of the meal.
Italy
The most important holiday for them is Christmas, and their traditions are deeply rooted in this. Of course, just as Italian cuisine varies from one part of the country to another, so too do the festive dishes. Almost every region prepares a different dish at this time of year. There is no typical traditional Christmas menu, which is found everywhere. But a wide range of starters is common. Not surprisingly, the most popular dishes are seafood. But after that, the choice is enormous. A pasta dishes cavalcade of undoubted. The casserole, the stuffed, in all its forms, and even the pizza are on the menu. A roasts a full repertoire can be found, from turkey, to veal, Zampone (stuffed pork), roast duck legs and breast, served with risotto, of course. As for pastries, the panettone is a favourite, but there are also many different shapes of panettone on the table. It is common to see the tiramisu, a very easy-to-make confectionery that is well known all over the world.
England
You have to prepare a multi-course dinner at their place. A light starter is essential, which can be almost anything, but the most popular is pâté with bread and seafood. The main Christmas dish in Britain is turkey, served with roast potatoes and parsnips. Gravy is a typical sauce made from meat stock, often thickened with wheat flour. Pudding is an indispensable dessert on the traditional British Christmas menu, and the many varieties of meat pie, filled with sweet and sour cranberry sauce or dipped in it, are a distinctive feature. Fruit jellies can be found served with dry sweet pastries.
France
The delicacies are undoubtedly the most popular, eaten only after evening mass. They also have a Christmas menu with several courses. On average, 4-8 dishes are served. The most popular starters are foie gras or duck liver, but oysters and smoked salmon are also a perfect start to the meal. There's no question that champagne is everywhere. They also have the turkey which is typically stuffed with chestnuts, is a typical dish, as is roast lamb. Sweets are also a must, but before dessert, cheese and sauces are added to the Christmas menu. Buche de noel, the chocolate trunk, is typical.
Norway
For them, the main course, which is a little further away from the Hungarian palate, is now part of the Christmas menu. Roast lamb's head, or smalahove, is the festive dish. The main thing is the buffet, where they put so many things you can't even list them. There is ham, herring, salmon, caviar, there are roasts, meatballs, salads. On the pastry front, there's a fondness for rice puddings, and a penchant for ginger and orange-flavoured delicacies.
Japan
No holiday is complete without a special meal. It's not unusual that they prefer chicken on the festive table, but it is that they are nowadays particularly fond of KFC with chicken celebrate Christmas. This is because they are not so keen on cooking at home and prefer to go out to restaurants and order in. Most Japanese households do not even have the kitchen we know so well. The Christmas period is a busy time for fast-food restaurants, and if you don't order in time, you could be out of luck. Christmas cakes are more of a tradition. Cakes made from a family recipe are usually eaten.
Africa
It is so far away from us that we will not even understand it. The most widely accepted Christmas dish that everyone loves is the mopane caterpillar. There is no particular reason for this, unless it is that their harvest time falls on Christmas. Usually they are cooked on a free-range fire in a clay pot with fat, but some places simply fry them in hot coals (ashes).
In West African countries, such as Ghana, palm nut soup is a popular drink. The weirdest thing is that they boil all meats, fish, chicken or whatever they have, so the concoction must have unusual flavours.
Greenland
Their typical Christmas dishes are traditional Inuit (Greenlandic indigenous) dishes, which is interesting enough for us. Muktuk is always on the festive table. This is nothing more than raw whale skin. If that wasn't bizarre enough, they even love kiwis. The making of kiwifruit starts with a peeled seal skin, then this is stuffed with seabirds, no frills, they put everything in, feathers and beaks. They coat it with seal blubber and sew it together. It is then matured for a few weeks, even months. The meal is simple, they take out the ripened or roasted birds and eat them.
I think we should stick to the tried and tested chowder and stuffed cabbage!
