81 Traditional Christmas Foods To Feast On

Originally meaning “Christ’s food,” Christopsomo, a buttery, sweet bread with strong theological symbolism, is a staple of Greek Orthodox families’ holiday feasts. On Christmas Eve, a small cross is placed on top of the round loaf, flavored with orange, cloves, and cinnamon.

One of South Africa’s most delicious sweets is malva pudding, a sponge cake with apricot jam as the main component. It is often saved for special events throughout the year. While it’s still hot, the golden sponge delicacy is generously drizzled with a sweetened buttercream, giving it a gooey, caramelized texture comparable to sticky toffee pudding.

Christmas Eve meals in Brazil typically last until the early hours of Christmas morning. Roast turkey or chicken, salted fish, and light side dishes like potato salad and garlic kale can all be included in the meal. However, farofa, a dish made of toasted cassava flour, butter, and garlic, is practically always included. Although the final additions might vary, smoked bacon, raisins, and walnuts are favorites.

This sweet, which resembles deep-fried French toast rolled in cinnamon sugar, is frequently served in Brazil on Christmas morning. It originated in Spain and was introduced to Brazil by the Portuguese empire. In Portugal, rabanadas are typically served as dessert rather than breakfast and drizzled with port syrup.

For centuries, Portuguese nuns doubled as egg yolk–slinging pastry chefs, cementing the country’s specialty in yellow-hued sweets. The sweet lampreia de ovos, made from 50 egg yolks, resembles an ancient sea monster and is also a Christmas treat in some regions. This dish only requires sugar syrup, almonds, and eggs. Create the winding body of your lamprey first from a paste of sweetened yolks and almond powder, and then cover it in sheets of yolks, syrup, and sugar. After putting the lamprey’s basic structure together, you can brown it in a hot oven. Don’t forget to add some candied cherry eyes and a few peeled almond teeth to make your new chum come to life.

Maida flour, milk, and occasionally eggs are used to make kulkul, which is then formed into tiny shells and fried in ghee (butter) or oil. Since it takes time to roll each kulkul with a fork, it’s a great treat to make with the family. Although they may have originated in the Portuguese community as a modified version of Filhoses Enroladas, they are made all throughout India during the holiday season. This rolled pastry resembles a rose. In Konkani, kulkuls are frequently referred to as kidyo, Konkani for “worms.” It’s more tempting to think of them as curls or shells since worms don’t sound very appetizing. Kulkuls are a traditional part of a sweets plate and ideal to give to friends and neighbors.

This egg-lemon chicken-rice soup, known as avgolemono, is typical in Greek homes, either as the first meal following Christmas Eve church services or as the first course at dinner. This soup is rich, cheery, zesty, and calming. The saying “soup is food for the soul” certainly applies to this particular soup. In actuality, many Greek broths and sauces — not only chicken soup — use the egg-lemon combination as their base. It is also typical in other Mediterranean regions.

In Bulgaria, kolivo, or boiled wheat kernels with sugar and walnuts, is usually the first dish to appear on the table on Christmas Eve. Kolivo can be made in various ways and is often eaten with honey, poppy seeds, other grains, rice, beans, or dried fruit. Besides Bulgaria, it is also served at tables in Serbia, Romania, Georgia, and Ukraine.

The “Yule meal,” as it is called in Iceland, is a leg of roasted or smoked lamb. Usually, it’s placed in the center of the table on Christmas Day. Peas, corn, cabbage, beans, gravy, jam, etc., are typically offered on the side of this deli meat.

An Australian dessert called White Christmas is made using dried fruit such as golden raisins, glacé cherries, shredded coconut, icing sugar, milk powder, and Rice Bubbles (known to Americans as Rice Krispies). The dry ingredients are mixed with softened hydrogenated coconut oil, which serves as the binding component. Then, the batter is put into a rectangular baking pan and refrigerated to allow it to solidify. After setting, the dish is cut into tiny squares for eating. It’s a popular Christmas food item, especially given how simple it is to make.

Cola de mono, which has a White Russian-like flavor and consistency but is commonly available in Chile, is an excellent alternative for eggnog lovers. For Christmas and New Year’s, most houses have their own distinctive, styled recipe that they prepare. It goes well with Chile’s traditional holiday delicacy, pan de Pascua (fruitcake).

Goa, a state in western India, was a Portuguese colony for four centuries. Hence Christmas traditions there are heavily influenced by Portuguese culture. Sorpotel, a spicy stew, is a significant component of Goa’s Christmas Eve celebrations in addition to carol singing and life-size nativity scenes. Pork (traditionally includes the liver and heart) is slowly cooked in cinnamon, cumin, and Kashmiri peppers. The ideal side dish is sannas, soft steamed rice cakes.

We have to thank the Sicilians for cannoli, cassata and gelato al pistacchio and many other desserts. When it comes to desserts, Sicilians are the experts. While much of Italy finishes its Christmas Day dinner with chocolate- or raisin-filled panettone, Sicily is busy making Buccellato, a round cake filled with dried figs, almonds, and pine nuts. Its unique flavor is primarily due to the addition of marsala, a powerful fortified wine (named after the Sicilian city of Marsala), to the pastry dough.

On December 24, the smell of wood-fired lamb ribs fills the streets of Norway’s west coast. Pinnekjøtt is simmered over birch wood until the meat is juicy and tender, after which it is dried, cured, or smoked. Swede and carrot mash and a delicious lingonberry jam are the most common sides. It’s also traditional to suggest taking a shot of akevitt, a Scandinavian liquor flavored with fennel, caraway, and star anise.

This spiced carrot casserole is the most well-known among the numerous root vegetable casseroles that Finns typically eat at Christmas. The carrots are mashed with rice or barley and a liquid — sometimes cream or milk, occasionally pure carrot juice — to obtain a smooth consistency. Spices, sugar, and butter are mixed. After being assembled in the casserole dish, the entire batch of mash is then cooked until golden. Some Finnish grocery stores even sell it already prepared.

A traditional holiday food in Mexico served on either New Year’s Eve or Christmas is bacalao (salted cod). It’s one of those few dishes that Mexican grandmothers have preserved and passed down through the generations. To create Bacalao a la Mexicana, you’ll need tomatoes, ancho chilies, onions, cinnamon, potato, and olives.

Some people in Russia skip meals on Christmas Eve and fast until the first star appears in the sky. Then, they eat Sochivo, a type of porridge made of wheat or rice and topped with fruit, nuts, and seeds. In the past, families in Russia would stick a spoonful of porridge onto the ceiling, hoping it would bring luck and a good harvest.

In the Philippines, this purple rice cake is sold during the Christmas season as street food. Steamed rice cakes are known as puto in Tagalog, and bumbóng is the name of the bamboo tube used to steam them. While some current versions of the meal use ube, or purple yam, to add color, the original recipe uses pirurutong, a type of dark purple glutinous rice. It is frequently served on banana leaves with butter, sugar, and coconut as a snack or breakfast.

An oliebol, literally translated as “oily ball,” is a deep-fried donut studded with raisins. Typically, the dough is rounded and placed into the oil using an ice cream scoop. It is fried and then covered in powdered sugar.

According to legend, Pelle Janzon, a food-obsessed Swedish opera singer from the early 1900s, is the inspiration behind Jansson’s temptation, also known as Janssons frestelse, a creamy potato and anchovy casserole. When this recipe was first publicized in 1940, this rich casserole immediately rose to the top of the Swedish Christmas dinner menu. The essential ingredients for this holiday dish are potatoes, onions, anchovies, and cream.