Traditional Christmas Food Around the World: 21 Festive Global Dishes
Have you ever wondered what traditional Christmas food around the world looks like? With so many countries and cultures celebrating this holiday, it’s not surprising that an array of different Christmas dishes exist.
From Christmas pudding to KFC and just about everything in between, traditional Christmas foods around the world are as varied as the cultures and landscapes they come from. To help you learn more about global Christmas culinary traditions, check out these 21 Christmas foods from around the world.
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21 Christmas Dishes From Around the World
1. France: Bûche de Noël
You’ve probably seen some version of a Yule log on sale at the supermarket, and it may not seem too exotic as far as Christmas foods from around the world go. But in France, a bûche de Noël cake — the original yule log — is no supermarket find.
At its simplest, a bûche de Noël is made of yellow genoise sponge cake and rich chocolate buttercream, but chocolate sponge versions also exist. The shape of the cake is inspired by an actual yule log, traditionally a special log that was burned in accordance with folk customs around Christmas in parts of Europe.
While the origins of that custom are fuzzy and it’s mostly faded into obscurity, the cake version of the yule log persists as a beloved Christmas treat in France. This year, if you’re looking for a familiar but novel Christmas food from around the world to try, why not go the French way and take a crack at making your own bûche de Noël?
2. Finland: Joulupöytä
We often use the word “smorgasbord” generically to describe an abundant spread of food, and it has its roots in Scandinavian, especially Swedish, culinary tradition. The concept of a large spread of food is also a common Christmas tradition around the world and Finland’s version, Joulupöytä, is a delicious Christmas spread centered around a main course of ham.
This feast often also includes various kinds of vegetable casseroles (potato and rutabaga, to name two), a beetroot salad called rosolli, pickled herring and dried whitefish. Prune jam-filled joulutorttu round out the menu. With so many delicious dishes served, Joulupöytä is one of the heartiest Christmas meals around the world.
3. Brazil: Rabanada
On Christmas morning, many Brazilians look forward to rabanada, a deep-fried bread dish very similar to French toast. Like many Christmas foods around the world, it’s wonderfully indulgent.
Rabanada consists of crusty bread soaked in condensed milk, deep-fried and rolled in cinnamon and sugar. It’s easy to see why it’s such a beloved Christmas treat!
4. Puerto Rico: Pasteles
You would be forgiven for mistaking Puerto Rican pasteles for tamales but there are some notable differences. A beloved Christmas treat in Puerto Rico, pasteles consist of a dough made from taro root and plantain (as opposed to corn-based masa used for tamales) filled with savory pork and wrapped in a banana leaf. The completed pasteles are then boiled.
Some families opt to purchase pasteles from a vendor to avoid the labor-intensive process of making their own while others make a family event of cooking them up together. No matter the production method, pasteles are a must-have Christmas food from around the world and more than worth the effort for those who choose to make them at home.
5. Poland: Barszcz Czerwony
In keeping with the cold season (at least in the Northern Hemisphere), many of the most popular Christmas foods from around the world are soups. This one might not sound familiar, but you’ll likely know its other name: borscht (barszcz is just the Polish word for borscht).
This variety of barszcz, though, is not like the creamy beet soup you may have tried before. Barszcz czerwony is a clear, broth-based variation. It’s often served in mugs and combined with mushroom pierogi when eaten in a bowl. If you’re looking for healthful Christmas dishes from around the world to warm up a chilly day, barszcz czerwony is a winner.
6. Ethiopia: Doro Wat
In Ethiopia, Christmas is celebrated with a warm, spicy stew that makes for one of the heartiest Christmas foods from around the world. Doro wat is a chicken stew made with tomato, hard-boiled eggs, kibbeh (Ethiopian spiced butter) and an array of spices.
While it’s eaten on many special occasions, it’s especially associated with Christmas. If you’re looking for Christmas foods from around the world to warm up a freezing December night, Ethiopia’s traditional Christmas stew is just what you’re looking for.
7. Japan: KFC
This has to be one of the most baffling Christmas foods from around the world to many. Allow us to explain. Since Japan is not a predominantly Christian nation, the adoption of Christmas traditions there has been much more recent and commercially oriented than it was in places like Western Europe, Scandinavia and Latin America, where longstanding traditions had religious roots.
One of these newer Christmas traditions began in 1974 when the owner of Japan’s first Kentucky Fried Chicken franchise allegedly overheard an American expat saying that chicken was the best available substitute for the traditional Christmas turkey. With that in mind, he began selling party buckets of fried chicken as a Christmas treat.
These days, a third of annual revenue at some Japanese KFC locations comes from the Christmas season alone! You can even pre-order your party bucket to avoid long lines on Christmas day. Admittedly, Japanese KFC is not the easiest Christmas food from around the world to recreate in your own kitchen, but it’s definitely one of the most fun and unique food traditions to learn about.
8. Norway: Pinnekjøtt
In cold regions, cured and smoked meats are very common at Christmas. Those preparation methods are found in Christmas foods around the world wherever it wasn’t possible to have fresh meat in the winter, particularly in Scandinavia.
Even though meat is now generally available on supermarket shelves year-round, these dishes rooted in past customs are still popular around the holidays. One such dish is pinnekjøtt, a Norwegian Christmas entrée made of cured and soaked mutton ribs. This dish is often eaten with pureéd rutabaga, sausage and potatoes.
9. Slovakia: Kapustnica
Earlier we mentioned how many Christmas foods around the world are soups, and this is another example of that. Kapustnica is a pungent Slovakian soup made of sauerkraut, mushrooms, pork and sausage, enjoyed in all seasons but especially at Christmas.
Moreover, like many Christmas foods around the world, kapustnica relies on fermented ingredients (sauerkraut), since for centuries fermentation was one of the only ways to enjoy vegetables in the winter.
10. Italy: Buccellato
Italy boasts some of the richest Christmas food traditions from around the world, notably the famous Feast of Seven Fishes. But in Sicily, dessert is the centerpiece of the Christmas table, with buccellato as the star.
Buccellato is a sweet, ring-shaped cake made from a dense dough filled with figs and nuts, and though it’s enjoyed year-round, it takes special pride of place at Christmastime. Sweet but not overwhelmingly sugary, serving buccellato is a great Christmas breakfast idea, too.
Do note that variations on the concept of a ring-shaped Christmas bread exist in many cultures, so there are a lot of similar Christmas foods from around the world like this. However, the one most often confused with buccellato is the buccellato di Lucca, a similarly-named ring cake hailing from a different region of Italy, which is not associated with Christmas.
Therefore, if you’re looking for a recipe, be careful to search specifically for the Sicilian dessert to ensure you make an authentic version of this Christmas treat.
11. Mexico: Tamales
No discussion of Christmas foods from around the world would be complete without tamales. While they’re hugely popular in the United States year-round, tamales are a Christmas tradition in Mexico, where the time-intensive preparation of tamales traditionally begins on December 12th and extends through the Christmas holiday.
More than most other Christmas foods from around the world, tamales are a much-loved dish because making them provides a way to celebrate the season with loved ones and remind everyone of their connections to their communities and culture. More than just a meal, making tamales is definitely one of the most beloved family Christmas activities.
12. Venezuela: Pan de Jamón
Many Christmas foods from around the world are hot, hearty and tailor-made for cold weather, but in tropical Latin America, festive foods don’t necessarily follow that trend. One of these is pan de jamón, a rolled Christmas bread filled with ham, olives and peppers.
Variations exist, with some recipes using puff pastry instead of bread dough and others including turkey or cream cheese as fillings, but the ham-olive-pepper combination is the original, dating back to the dish’s origins.
With its festive colors and hearty ingredients, pan de jamón works as well as the centerpiece of a Christmas table as it does for lunch the next day. This one gets our vote for “Christmas foods from around the world that make the best leftovers.”
13. England: Christmas Pudding
Many Christmas foods from around the world are highly coveted: maybe they’re difficult to make, or the ingredients are expensive and can’t be used in everyday cooking. The latter is true of England’s age-old holiday dessert, Christmas Pudding.
The dish that would eventually become Christmas pudding originated in medieval times and included spices, sugar, treacle and suet (a specific kind of fat found in many mammals), all of which were expensive and sought-after ingredients at the time hence why this pudding was only made for special occasions like Christmas.
These days, it consists of flour, sugar, suet (often a vegetarian variety), dried fruits (which have often been soaked in brandy or other spirits) and spices, and may also be called plum pudding (though it contains no plums).
Interestingly, it's usually served with a decoration of real holly and is doused in a spirit, often brandy, before being set alight for a Christmas dessert spectacle! This (usually) boozy dessert is served with cream or a brandy butter made with brandy, butter and powdered sugar.
14. India: Allahabadi Cake
You might not associate India with Christmas, but it deserves a spot on any list of Christmas foods around the world for this rum cake. The wheat-based cake, which takes its name from the city in northern India where it originated, is flavored with rum-soaked fruits and nuts.
Though it seems similar to European fruitcake at first glance, it differs in its use of Indian ingredients like petha (candied gourd). The result is a cake that physically resembles other Christmas foods from around the world but remains unique in its flavors.
15. Philippines: Bibingka
The tropical climate of the Philippines makes Filipino Christmas food especially unique. Case in point: bibingka, a personal-sized Christmas cake made with fermented rice. While other regions might have cured meats or fermented ingredients available in winter, Filipino Christmas foods are influenced by the abundant rice grown in the country.
Rice-based bibingka, neither entirely sweet nor entirely savory, incorporates duck egg and cheese and is often topped with sugar or shredded coconut. Like many Christmas foods around the world, there are traditions surrounding when it’s eaten, too: a snack of bibingka is often enjoyed after Christmas Mass.
16. South Africa: Malva Pudding
Another, very different sweet Christmas food from around the world is malva pudding, a South African specialty that’s popular year-round but especially at Christmastime. With a spongy texture, a caramelized top, apricot jam and warm cream sauce to top it off, malva pudding is so rich you might have to share it if you want to finish a portion!
As you might expect, it’s often viewed as a cold-weather comfort food, so whipping up this recipe at least one during the winter even if not at Christmas is highly recommended.
17. Greece: Melomakarono
A Greek Christmas meal can be an elaborate affair, but Christmas food around the world doesn’t get simpler than melomakarono — Greek honey cookies. These Christmas cookies don’t need anything more than flour, olive oil and honey, though some add additional flavorings, such as orange juice or cinnamon, and many choose to top melomakarono with crushed walnuts.
Essentially, as with many much-loved Christmas cookies the world over, the chef’s discretion rules. Many Christmas foods around the world are time-and-labor-intensive, but this Greek food is definitely not one of them!
18. Spain: Sopa de Galets
Hopping across the Mediterranean, we have another Christmas soup: sopa de galets from Spain’s Catalonia region. It’s a relatively simple concept, with large meat-stuffed pasta shells in broth, but packed with flavor.
This dish is commonly eaten as a starter, and in its most traditional form, the broth is left over from a flavorful stew recipe and used again in this soup to give it more concentrated flavor. Spain might not be known for its white Christmases, but like many Christmas foods around the world, sopa de galets is ideal for warming you up in the winter.
19. Australia and New Zealand: Pavlova
Some Christmas foods around the world are so unique that only a single region serves them. Others are more widespread and shared by multiple countries, as is the case with Pavlova.
This simple meringue-based dessert is named after the famous Russian dancer Anna Pavlova because it resembles a ballerina’s tutu. While now served year-round and in many countries, it's notably extremely popular in New Zealand and Australia at Christmas when it’s served with berries for a touch of seasonal color.
20. Denmark: Julesild
Herring is a year-round specialty in Denmark, but come December, it joins the ranks of the many pickled, cured and otherwise preserved foods eaten at Christmas around the world. It’s sold jarred but often homemade, and it’s usually served on rye bread as a kind of sandwich. Julesild can also be pickled in many ways, resulting in numerous flavor variations.
21. Germany: Christstollen
From one cake to another: an uncanny number of Christmas foods around the world start with sugar and flour, and this German Christmas food is no exception. A sweet bread made with nuts, marzipan, candied fruit and spices, Christstollen (sometimes also sold as simply “stollen” or as “weihnachtsstollen”) is a venerable addition to the roster of fruitcake-ish Christmas foods from around the world. You may have even seen it on sale around Christmas in the U.S. and should definitely pick some up if you notice it in the shops this year!
Learn To Cook Global Christmas Dishes
With so many delicious Christmas foods around the world to try, you might find yourself wanting to bring some of those traditions into your own Christmas celebrations this year. But when you’re cooking an unfamiliar new dish, it’s not always easy to know where to start, and that’s where cooking classes come in.
Whether you find a cooking class near you or opt for online cooking classes in your own kitchen, the guidance of an expert chef can help you master all the festive dishes your heart desires.
In countless countries, Christmas celebrations are a rich display of treasured traditions, and that’s exactly why Christmas foods around the world are so beloved. Whether they’re a link to the past or a delicious addition to more time-honored traditions, indulging in Christmas dishes from around the world offers a great way to explore and appreciate new cuisines. You may even discover a dish that becomes a part of your holiday culinary traditions!
For even more ways to enjoy the holidays, check out other experiences happening on Cozymeal.
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