Christmas dinner

An oven-roasted turkey.

Christmas dinner is the primary meal traditionally eaten on Christmas Eve or Christmas Day. In many ways the meal is similar to a standard Sunday dinner. Christmas feasts have traditionally been luxurious and abundant. King John of England, in the year 1213, ordered about 3,000 capons, 1,000 salted eels, 400 hogs, 100 pounds of almonds and 24 casks of wine for his Christmas feast.^[1]

Christmas dinner around the world

Christmas dinner around the world may differ and the traditions present below can reflect the culture of the respective country it is being celebrated in. Turkey is present in a fair number of these meals.

Australia

Christmas dinner in Australia is based on the traditional English version.^[2] However due to Christmas falling in the heat of the Southern Hemisphere's summer, meats such as ham, turkey and chicken are sometimes served cold, accompanied by side salads. Barbecues are also a popular way of avoiding the heat of the oven. Seafood such as prawns (similar to shrimp) is common, as are barbecued cuts of steak or chicken breasts, drumsticks and wings. In summer, Australians are also fond of Pavlova, a dessert composed of fruit atop a baked meringue. Fruits of the season include mangoes and cherries. Introduced by Italian Australians, Panettone is widely available in shops, particularly in Sydney and Melbourne.

Austria

Christmas cuisine in Austria is similar to that of Germany. Christmas Eve is the celebration of the end of the pre-Christmas fast. Christmas Eve is historically the day that the tree is decorated and lit with real candles, so that the Christkindl may visit. Christmas Day is a national holiday in Austria and most Austrians spend the day feasting with their family. Fried carp, Sacher torte and Christmas cookies (lebkuchen and sterne) are eaten, and many other chocolate delicacies including edible Christmas ornaments. Christmas dinner is usually Goose, Ham served with Gluhwein, Rumpunsch, and Chocolate Mousse.

Brazil

In Brazil, the Christmas meal is quite a feast,( served in the evening on the 24th of December) offering large quantities of food, such as a wide variety of dishes which include fresh vegetables (including Couve a Mineira – Kale, highly seasoned with garlic), luscious fruits^[3] and Brazil nuts. Accompanying these are bowls of zesty, colorful rice and platters filled with ham and fresh salad (sometimes cold potato salad is also served) served with roast turkey. Also in some parts of Brazil features roast pork, roast Chicken and fish. Other Christmas items include a variety of desserts such as lemon tart, Nuts pie, chocolate cake and also Panettone.

Canada

In English Canada, Christmas dinner is similar to that of its colonial ancestor, England. Traditional Christmas dinner features turkey with stuffing, mashed potatoes, gravy, cranberry sauce, vegetables and raisin pudding for dessert. Eggnog, a milk-based punch that is often infused with alcohol, is also very popular around the holiday season. Other Christmas items include butter tarts and shortbread, which are traditionally baked before the holidays and served to visiting friends, at various Christmas and New Year parties, as well as on Christmas Day.

In French Canada, traditions may be more like those of France. (See Réveillon)

Other ethnic communities may continue to use old world traditions as well.

Czech Republic

A traditional Christmas meal in the Czech Republic is fried carp and potato salad which are eaten during Christmas dinner in the evening of 24 December. This tradition started after excessive increase of fishpond cultivation in the Baroque era. Many households also prepare a great variety of special Christmas cookies to offer to Christmas visitors. These are prepared many days prior to the feast and take a long time to decorate, with the remainder usually ending up on a Christmas tree as a decoration.

Denmark

In Denmark, the traditional Christmas meal served on December 24 consists of roast pork with crackling, goose, duck, or just duck and goose. The meat is served along with potatoes (some of which are caramelised, some roasted), red cabbage, and plenty of gravy. It is followed with a dessert of Risalamande, rice pudding served with cherry sauce or strawberry sauce, often with a whole almond hidden inside. The lucky finder of the almond of which is entitled to an extra present, the almond gift. Christmas drinks are Gløgg and traditional Christmas beers, specially brewed for the season. These usually have a high alcohol content.

Finland

Main article: Joulupöytä

Joulupöytä (translated "Christmas table") is the name of the traditional food board served at Christmas in Finland, similar to the Swedish smörgåsbord. It contains many different dishes, most of them typical for the season. The main dish is usually a large Christmas ham, which is eaten with mustard or bread along with the other dishes. Fish is also served (often lutefish and gravlax or smoked salmon), and with the ham there are also different casseroles usually with potatoes, rutabaga or carrots. The traditional Christmas beverage is either alcoholic or non-alcoholic mulled wine (glögi in Finnish).

France

Main article: Réveillon

In France and some other French-speaking countries, a réveillon is a long dinner, and possibly party, held on the evenings preceding Christmas Day and New Year's Day. The name of this dinner is based on the word réveil (meaning "waking"), because participation involves staying awake until midnight.

Germany

In Germany, the primary Christmas dishes are roast goose and roast carp, although suckling pig or duck may also be served. Typical side dishes include roast potatoes and various forms of cabbage such as kale, brussel sprouts and red cabbage. In some regions the Christmas dinner is traditionally served on Christmas Day rather than Christmas Eve. In this case, dinner on Christmas Eve is a more simple affair, consisting of sausages (such as Weißwurst) or macaroni salad. Sweets and Christmas pastries are nearly obligatory and include Marzipan, spice bars (Lebkuchen), several types of bread, and different fruitcakes and fruited breads like Christstollen and Dresdener Stollen.^[4]

Honduras

In Honduras, tamales are traditionally eaten on Christmas Eve evening. Turkey has become popular in the last few years.

Iceland

The Christmas dinner is eaten on Christmas Eve at 18:00. The main dish varies much between families. The most common is probably Hamborgarhryggur, which is a kind of Gammon steak. Other common dishes are roast game like reindeer, ptarmigan and smoked lamb, (hangikjöt) and a great variety of steaks such as Duck, Turkey which are also eaten by many on Christmas Day or at other occasions during the Christmas period.

India

In India most traditional feast based on United Kingdom are traditionally eaten they are roast duck,roast chicken,fruit cake and plum cake.

Lebanon

The Lebanese, mostly Christians but also Muslims, celebrate Christmas dinners. The feast, usually on both the night of the 24th and lunch of the 25th, is a big one. Some have the leftovers from the dinner prior at the lunch the next day. Family gets together at both meals. Roast turkey is the most common choice of meal, chicken, kebabs, and other meals are common. At midnight the Christians are seen to go to mass at church.

Lithuania, Belarus and Ukraine

Main article: Twelve-dish Christmas Eve supper

In the areas of the former Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth (e.g., Lithuania, Poland), an elaborate and ritualised meal of twelve meatless dishes is served on the Eve of Christmas (24 December), Ukraine and Belarus (6 January). This is because the pre-Christmas season is a time of fasting, which is broken on Christmas Day.

Mexico

In Mexico the Christmas dinner, eaten on Christmas Eve evening, varies with region. Common dishes are various fruits (oranges, lime, tropical fruits) and salad (composed of several ingredients including jícama, beets, bananas, and peanuts). In several states, however, stews are made: either pozole, made of pork or beef and hominy in red chile sauce; or menudo made with beef tripe and hominy also in chile sauce. In the center of Mexico, bacalao (codfish) and romeritos (rosemary) prepared with mole are popular dishes. In the north of Mexico the most traditional Christmas dish is tamales served with sauce over them and sometimes cream and a bit of crumbly fresh cheese. For dessert, atole (a thinned hot pudding) with buñuelos (fried flour tortillas sprinkled with sugar and cinnamon), or buñuelos soaked in sugar (piloncillo) and cinnamon water, are served. There are also sweet tamales: corn with raisins or sweet beans, or strawberry flavored. Stuffed turkey or ham are also common.

Netherlands

Christmas dinner in The Netherlands is a bit different from customs in neighbouring countries. One typical Dutch tradition is that of 'gourmet,' an evening long event where small groups of people sit together around a gourmet-set and use their own little frying pan to cook and season their own food in very small portions. The host has prepared finely chopped vegetables and different types of meats, fish and prawns/shrimps. Everything is accompanied by different salads, fruits and sauces. The origin of gourmet lies most likely in the former Dutch colony Indonesia.^{[citation needed]}

The Dutch also enjoy more traditional Christmas-dinners, especially meats and game like roast beef, duck, rabbit, and pheasant.^{[citation needed]} This generally served with different types of vegetables, potatoes and salads. In recent years, traditions from Anglo-Saxon countries have become increasingly popular, most notably the UK-style turkey.^{[citation needed]}

New Zealand

The Christmas customs of New Zealand are largely identical to the United Kingdom. Christmas dinner consists of roast turkey, roast vegetables, stuffing, and cranberry sauce. Alternatively, roast ham may be offered as a main course. Desserts are commonly mince pies, Christmas pudding, trifle and brandy butter. Enjoyment of non-British Christmas foods, such as stollen from Germany, Bûche de Noël from France, and panettone from Italy, was virtually unheard of in New Zealand until the late 1990s and is still rare today. Due to New Zealanders celebrating Christmas in the summer, it is also common to barbecue, and eat seasonal fruit such as cherries and strawberries. Pavlova is also popular.

Norway

The most common dish is svineribbe (usually just ribbe), pork belly side prepared with seasoning, for proper crackling. Usually it is consumed together with sauerkraut, redcurrant sauce, flatbread and a few shots of akevitt (to wash down the rather greasy meal). In the western parts of the country, pinnekjøtt, mutton ribs, is by far the most popular Christmas dinner. The traditional lutefisk is also still eaten by some, but it is more commonly eaten at other occasions during the Christmas period.[1]. For dessert rice pudding is very popular, served with a raspberry sauce.

Philippines

The Christmas dinner in the Philippines is called Noche Buena, and is held towards midnight of December 24. This usually comes after the entire family has attended the late evening Mass called the Misa de Gallo ("Mass of the Rooster"). The centrepiece of the Noche Buena is often the hamón or Christmas ham, which is usually a cured leg of pork ham. This is usually served with Queso de Bola, literally a ball of edam cheese, covered in a red wax. Other ubiquitous dishes are pasta and for dessert, fruit salad. The dinner would usually be accompanied with tsokolate or hot cocoa, which is made with pure, locally-grown cacao beans. Some families prefer tsokolate prepared from tablea or tablets of pressed cocoa powder that is either pure or slightly sweetened. Most of the food served on Noche Buena are fresh and usually prepared during the day of Christmas Eve.^[5]

Middle-class and affluent families tend to prepare sumptuous feasts which sometimes includes any of the following: lechón or spit-roasted pig; lumpia; escabeche; adobo; rellenong manok or stuffed chicken; roast turkey; mechado (beef stew); kaldereta (spicy beef stew); paella; and other traditional fiesta dishes. Families that are not as affluent would opt for a more economical Noche Buena; the organising of even a simple gathering despite financial difficulties reflects the importance in Filipino culture of familial (and by extension communal) unity over most other concerns.

This importance placed on the family is also found in all socio-economic classes and ethnic groups in the Philippines in that during the Noche Buena, most if not all members from branch or extended families in a clan are always expected to appear at the celebrations. Relatives living abroad, especially OFWs, are highly encouraged to return home for the occasion, as it is the most important holiday of the year for many Filipinos. Most families prefer to exchange Christmas presents right after the dinner, in contrast to the Western custom of opening presents on Christmas morning.

Peru

On Christmas Eve (Noche Buena), the extended family join together for a dinner of roast turkey, stuffed with ground beef and peanuts and decorated with fresh slices of pineapple, and white rice seasoned with garlic. Roast potatoes and uncooked sweetened apple puree are often served as well. The main desert is panettone. It is usually accompanied by a cup of thick hot chocolate. Less common deserts include a special marzipan made out of Brazil Nuts (due to the scarcity and expense of almonds in Peru) and assorted bowls with raisins, peanuts. At midnight, a toast is made, and good wishes and hugs are exchanged. A designated person runs to put Child Jesus in the Nativity scene. Then, the family members take their seat on the dining room while singing Christmas Carols.

Poland

Christmas Day is a national holiday in Poland and most Poles spend the day feasting with their family. The Christmas meal is quite a feast, served in the evening on the 24th of December, offering large quantities of food. This Christmas Eve meal is called Wigilia. After the first star appears in the sky, everyone shares the Christmas wafer (oplatek) and wishes good things for the coming year. Then supper begins. The meal is meatless, honoring Catholic tradition. Many households also prepare a great variety of special Christmas dishes, typically numbering 12 in honor of the 12 apostles. Dishes include: stuffed carp, fried carp, herring in wine sauce, herring in cream sauce, fruit compote, vegetable salad, soup (beet, mushroom, or fish), peas and carrots, boiled potatoes, mushroom cream sauce, sauerkraut, and makowiec (poppy seed rolled cake). Most households leave an empty plate at the table for a guest. Straw or hay is usually on the table to symbolize the manger. During the season, piernicki, or honey ginger cookies, are baked.

Main article: Wigilia

Portugal

In the land of dried and salted cod, traditional Christmas dinner could not escape the norm. Traditionally, in Portugal the family gets together around the table on Christmas Eve to eat boiled dried-salted codfish accompanied with boiled cabbage, boiled potatoes, boiled eggs, chickpeas, onions, parsley, etc.. All accompanied with generous amounts of olive oil. There are variations across the country and, less traditionally, roasted turkey can also be served either for dinner on the 24th or for lunch on the 25th.

Slovakia

Christmas dinner in Slovakia is celebrated on 24 December, dinner takes part at around 5 to 6 pm.

The traditional dinner includes oplátky (thin waffles with honey or garlic), cabbage soup with mushrooms and sausage (sometimes with dry plums), carp or other fish with potato salad, apples and Christmas biscuits and opekance.

United Kingdom and Ireland

Christmas dinner in both the United Kingdom and Ireland is usually eaten in the afternoon on the 25th of December.

The dinner usually consists of roast turkey (although other poultry such as goose, chicken, duck, capon or pheasant are alternatives), sometimes with roast beef or ham or, to a lesser extent, pork. Served with stuffing, gravy and sometimes forcemeat; pigs in blankets; cranberry sauce or redcurrant jelly; bread sauce; roast potatoes (sometimes also boiled or mashed); vegetables (usually boiled or steamed), particularly brussels sprouts and carrots; with dessert of Christmas pudding (or plum pudding), sometimes mince pies or trifle, with brandy butter and/or cream.

Christmas pudding

In England, the evolution of the main course into turkey did not take place for years, or even centuries. At first, in Medieval England, the main course was either a peacock or a boar, the boar usually the mainstay. The turkey appeared on Christmas tables in England in the 16th century,^[6] and popular history tells of King Henry VIII being first English monarch to have turkey for Christmas.^[7] The tradition of turkey at Christmas rapidly spread throughout England in the 17th century,^[6] and it also became common to serve goose which remained the predominate roast until the Victorian era.^[8] (it was quite common for Goose "Clubs" to be set up allowing working class families to save up over the year towards a goose before this).^[9] A famous Christmas dinner scene appears in Dicken's A Christmas Carol (1843), where Scrooge sends Bob Cratchitt a large turkey.^[10] The dessert of a British Christmas Dinner may often be Christmas pudding, which dates from medieval England.^[11] Trifle, mince pies, Christmas Cake or a Yule Log are also popular.^[12]

United States

Most Christmas customs in the United States have been adopted from those in the United Kingdom.^[13] Accordingly, the mainstays of the British table are also found in the United States: roast turkey (or other poultry), beef, ham, or pork; stuffing (or 'dressing'), squash, roasted root vegetables, brussels sprouts, and mashed potatoes are common. Common desserts include pumpkin pie, plum pudding or Christmas pudding, trifle, marzipan, pfeffernusse, sugar cookies, fruitcake, apple pie, Gooseberry Pie, carrot cake, bûche de Noël, and mince pies. In the south, coconut cake and sweet potato pie are also common.

The centerpiece of a sit-down meal varies on the tastes of the host but can be ham, roast beef, or goose, particularly since turkey is the mainstay at dinner for the American holiday of Thanksgiving in November, around one month earlier. Regional meals offer incredible diversity. Virginia has oysters, ham pie, and fluffy biscuits, a nod to its very English 17th century founders. The Upper Midwest includes dishes from predominately Scandinavian backgrounds such as lutefisk and mashed rutabaga or turnip.^[14] In some rural areas, game meats like elk, opossum or quail may grace the table, often prepared with recipes that are extremely old: it is likely that similar foodstuffs graced the tables of early American settlers on their first Christmases.

References

1. ^ Food timeline
2. ^ Cameron Brown Christmas Facts, Figures & Fun AAPPL, 2006
3. ^ http://www.essortment.com/food/christmasaround_sdbo.htm
4. ^ Holiday Traditions — Germany. Retrieved 1 July 2006
5. ^ Filipino Culture - Surviving Christmas in the Philippines
6. ^ ^{a b} Davis, Karen (2001) More than a meal: the turkey in history, myth, ritual, and reality Lantern Books, 2001
7. ^ Whittaker, Andrew (2009) Britain: be fluent in British life and culture Thorogood Publishing, 2009
8. ^ Victorian Christmas Retrieved 1 December 2010
9. ^ Goose Clubs in Victorian England Retrieved 1 December 2010
10. ^ Charles Dickens (1843) A Christmas carol in prose, being a ghost story of Christmas p.156. Bradbury & Evans
11. ^ Broomfield, Andrea (2007) Food and cooking in Victorian England: a history pp.149-150. Greenwood Publishing Group, 2007
12. ^ Muir, Frank (1977) Christmas customs & traditions p.58. Taplinger Pub. Co., 1977
13. ^ Holiday Traditions — England. Retrieved 1 July 2006.
14. ^ Holiday Traditions — United States Retrieved 1 July 2006.