This page is a list of Christmas dishes as eaten around the world. These food items are traditionally eaten at or associated with the Christmas

Christmas

Christmas or Christmas Day is an annual holiday generally celebrated on December 25 by billions of people around the world. It is a Christian feast that commemorates the birth of Jesus Christ, liturgically closing the Advent season and initiating the season of Christmastide, which lasts twelve days...

 season.

Australia

• roast
  Roasting
  Roasting is a cooking method that uses dry heat, whether an open flame, oven, or other heat source. Roasting usually causes caramelization or Maillard browning of the surface of the food, which is considered by some as a flavor enhancement. Roasting uses more indirect, diffused heat , and is...
  
   turkey, chicken
  Chicken (food)
  Chicken is the most common type of poultry in the world, and is prepared as food in a wide variety of ways, varying by region and culture.- History :...
  
   and ham
  Ham
  Ham is a cut of meat from the thigh of the hind leg of certain animals, especiallypigs. Nearly all hams sold today are fully cooked or cured.-Etymology:...
  
  
• Stuffing
  Stuffing
  In cooking, stuffing or filling is an edible substance or mixture, often a starch, used to fill a cavity in another food item...
  
  
• Christmas cake
  Christmas cake
  Christmas cake is a type of fruitcake served at Christmas time in the UK, Ireland, Japan, Philippines and many Commonwealth countries.A Christmas cake may be light or dark, crumbly-moist to sticky-wet, spongy to heavy, leavened or unleavened, shaped round, square or oblong as whole cakes, fairy...
  
   or Christmas pudding
  Christmas pudding
  Christmas pudding is a pudding traditionally served on Christmas Day . It has its origins in medieval England, and is sometimes known as plum pudding or plum duff, though this can also refer to other kinds of boiled pudding involving dried fruit.-Basics:Many households have their own recipe for...
  
   (Traditionally with a small treat baked inside, often a silver coin such as a Threepence or Sixpence. Australian decimal currency coins cannot be used as they are cupro-nickel not silver, which due to contamination risks isn't safe to be cooked in foods).
• custard
  Custard
  Custard is a variety of culinary preparations based on a cooked mixture of milk or cream and egg yolk. Depending on how much egg or thickener is used, custard may vary in consistency from a thin pouring sauce , to a thick pastry cream used to fill éclairs. The most common custards are used as...
  
  
• gingerbread
  Gingerbread
  Gingerbread is a term used to describe a variety of sweet food products, which can range from a soft, moist loaf cake to something close to a ginger biscuit. What they have in common are the predominant flavors of ginger and a tendency to use honey or molasses rather than just sugar...
  
   in Christmas shapes
• Christmas damper
  Damper (food)
  Damper is a traditional Australian soda bread prepared by swagmen, drovers, stockmen and other travelers. It consists of a wheat flour based bread, traditionally baked in the coals of a campfire. Damper is an iconic Australian dish...
  
   - in wreath
  Wreath
  A wreath is an assortment of flowers, leaves, fruits, twigs and/or various materials that is constructed to resemble a ring. They are used typically as Christmas decorations to symbolize the coming of Christ, also known as the Advent season in Christianity. They are also used as festive headdresses...
  
   or star shape, served with butter
  Butter
  Butter is a dairy product made by churning fresh or fermented cream or milk. It is generally used as a spread and a condiment, as well as in cooking applications, such as baking, sauce making, and pan frying...
  
  , jam, honey
  Honey
  Honey is a sweet food made by bees using nectar from flowers. The variety produced by honey bees is the one most commonly referred to and is the type of honey collected by beekeepers and consumed by humans...
  
   or golden syrup
  Golden syrup
  Golden syrup is a pale treacle. It is a thick, amber-colored form of inverted sugar syrup, made in the process of refining sugar cane juice into sugar, or by treatment of a sugar solution with acid. It is used in a variety of baking recipes and desserts. It has an appearance similar to honey, and...
  
  . Made in the Australian bush in the 19th century.
• lollies
  Confectionery
  Confectionery is the set of food items that are rich in sugar, any one or type of which is called a confection. Modern usage may include substances rich in artificial sweeteners as well...
  
  , such as rocky road
  Rocky road (dessert)
  Rocky Road is a type of dessert made up of milk chocolate and marshmallow which is usually served in individual portions such as a cupcake or in American cuisine, as an ice cream flavor.-Australia:...
  
  ; rum ball
  Rum ball
  Rum balls are a truffle-like confection, being sweet, dense balls flavoured with chocolate and rum. They are roughly the size of a golf ball and often coated in chocolate sprinkles, desiccated coconut, or cocoa. As their name implies, these cookies contain rum and because they are not baked, the...
  
  s; candy cane
  Candy cane
  A candy cane is a hard cane-shaped candy stick. It is traditionally white with red stripes and flavored with peppermint or cinnamon; however, it is also made in a variety of other flavors and may be decorated with stripes of different colors and thicknesses...
  
  s
• Champagne
• cold turkey and cold ham
• seafood
  Seafood
  Seafood is any form of marine life regarded as food by humans. Seafoods include fish, molluscs , crustaceans , echinoderms . Edible sea plants, such as some seaweeds and microalgae, are also seafood, and are widely eaten around the world, especially in Asia...
  
   and salad
  Salad
  Salad is any of a wide variety of dishes, including vegetable salads; salads of pasta, legumes, eggs, or grains; mixed salads incorporating meat, poultry, or seafood; and fruit salads. They may include a mixture of cold and hot, often including raw vegetables or fruits.Green salads include leaf...
  
  s
• trifle
  Trifle
  Trifle is a dessert dish made from thick custard, fruit, sponge cake, fruit juice or gelatin, and whipped cream. These ingredients are usually arranged in layers with fruit and sponge on the bottom, and custard and cream on top....
  
  
• Pavlova
  Pavlova (food)
  Pavlova is a meringue-based dessert named after the Russian ballet dancer Anna Pavlova. It is a meringue with a crisp crust and soft, light inner. The name is pronounced or , unlike the name of the dancer, which was or ....
  
  
• mince pie
  Mince pie
  A mince pie, also known as minced pie, is a small British sweet pie traditionally served during the Christmas season. Its ingredients are traceable to the 13th century, when returning European crusaders brought with them Middle Eastern recipes containing meats, fruits and spices.The early mince...
  
  s

Belgium

• cougnou
  Cougnou
  The cougnou or bread of Jesus is a bread baked during Christmas time and is typical of the southern Low Countries.It has various names according to the location:* Coquille in Romance Flanders ,...
  
   (with various like cougnolle), sweet bread in the form of the infant Jesus

Brazil

Brazil

Brazil , officially the Federative Republic of Brazil , is the largest country in South America. It is the world's fifth largest country, both by geographical area and by population with over 192 million people...

 

• lombo à Califórnia - pork loin
  Pork loin
  Pork loin is a cut of meat from a pig, created from the tissue along the top of the rib cage. It is very popular in the United States, where it is usually grilled or baked. Pork loins are also sold soaking in marinade. Pork Loin can be used to make many different foods; such as bacon...
  
  s
• rabanada - French toast
  French toast
  French toast or Eggy Bread, is a food made with bread and eggs. It is a Christmas time dessert in Portugal and Brazil.Where French toast is served as a sweet dish, milk, sugar, or cinnamon are also commonly added before frying, and it may be then topped with sugar, butter, fruit, syrup, or other...
  
  
• pernil - roast pork
  Pork
  Pork is the culinary name for meat from the domestic pig , which is eaten in many countries. It is one of the most commonly consumed meats worldwide, with evidence of pig husbandry dating back to 5000 BC....
  
  
• perú - roast turkey
  Turkey
  Turkey , known officially as the Republic of Turkey , is a Eurasian country located in Western Asia and in East Thrace in Southeastern Europe...
  
  
• bacalhau
  Bacalhau
  Bacalhau is the Portuguese word for codfish and—in a culinary context—dried and salted codfish. Fresh cod is referred to as bacalhau fresco .-Use:...
  
   - codfish
• farofa
  Farofa
  Farofa is a toasted manioc flour mixture, though variants are made with maize flour , and flavors can vary. It is eaten in South America and West Africa, especially in Brazil and Nigeria, where a variant is known as gari. It can be found commercially produced and packaged but is often prepared at...
  
   - raw manioc
  Cassava
  Cassava , also called yuca or manioc, a woody shrub of the Euphorbiaceae native to South America, is extensively cultivated as an annual crop in tropical and subtropical regions for its edible starchy tuberous root, a major source of carbohydrates...
  
   flour roasted with butter
  Butter
  Butter is a dairy product made by churning fresh or fermented cream or milk. It is generally used as a spread and a condiment, as well as in cooking applications, such as baking, sauce making, and pan frying...
  
  , salt
  Salt
  In chemistry, salts are ionic compounds that result from the neutralization reaction of an acid and a base. They are composed of cations and anions so that the product is electrically neutral...
  
  , bacon
  Bacon
  Bacon is a cured meat prepared from a pig. It is first cured using large quantities of salt, either in a brine or in a dry packing; the result is fresh bacon . Fresh bacon may then be further dried for weeks or months in cold air, boiled, or smoked. Fresh and dried bacon must be cooked before eating...
  
   or smoked meat
  Smoked meat
  Smoked meat is a method of preparing red meat which originates in prehistory. Its purpose is to preserve these protein-rich foods, which would otherwise spoil quickly, for long periods. There are two mechanisms for this preservation: dehydration and the antibacterial properties of absorbed smoke...
  
  , and spice
  Spice
  A spice is a dried seed, fruit, root, bark, or vegetative substance used in nutritionally insignificant quantities as a food additive for flavor, color, or as a preservative that kills harmful bacteria or prevents their growth. It may be used to flavour a dish or to hide other flavours...
  
  s, with a smoky and slightly salty taste
• turkey
  Turkey
  Turkey , known officially as the Republic of Turkey , is a Eurasian country located in Western Asia and in East Thrace in Southeastern Europe...
  
  
• Brazil nut
  Brazil Nut
  The Brazil nut is a South American tree in the family Lecythidaceae, and also the name of the tree's commercially harvested edible seed.- Order :...
  
  
• Panettone
  Panettone
  thumb|200px|right|A non-traditionally shaped panettone loaf.Panettone is a type of sweet bread loaf originally from Milan , usually prepared and enjoyed for Christmas and New Year in Italy, Malta, Brazil, Germany and Switzerland, and is one of the symbols of the city of Milan. Maltese nationals are...
  
  

Canada

• apple cider
  Apple cider
  Apple cider is the name used in the United States and parts of Canada for an unfiltered, unsweetened, non-alcoholic beverage made from apples...
  
  
• bûche de Noël
  Bûche de Noël
  Bûche de Noël is a traditional dessert served near Christmas in France, Belgium, Canada, Lebanon, Vietnam, and several other francophone countries and former French colonies...
  
  
• butter tart
  Butter tart
  A butter tart is a type of small pastry tart highly regarded in Canadian cuisine and considered one of Canada's quintessential desserts. The tart consists of butter, sugar, syrup, and egg filled into a flaky pastry and baked until the filling is semi-solid with a crunchy top.The butter tart should...
  
  s
• candy cane
  Candy cane
  A candy cane is a hard cane-shaped candy stick. It is traditionally white with red stripes and flavored with peppermint or cinnamon; however, it is also made in a variety of other flavors and may be decorated with stripes of different colors and thicknesses...
  
  s
• Christmas pudding
  Christmas pudding
  Christmas pudding is a pudding traditionally served on Christmas Day . It has its origins in medieval England, and is sometimes known as plum pudding or plum duff, though this can also refer to other kinds of boiled pudding involving dried fruit.-Basics:Many households have their own recipe for...
  
  
• satsumas
• doughnut
  Doughnut
  A doughnut or donut is a fried dough food and is popular in many countries and prepared in various forms as a sweet snack that can be homemade or purchased in bakeries, supermarkets, food stalls, and franchised specialty outlets...
  
  s
• eggnog
  Eggnog
  Eggnog, or egg nog, is a sweetened dairy-based beverage traditionally made with milk and/or cream, sugar, beaten eggs , and liquor...
  
  
• fruitcake
  Fruitcake
  Fruitcake is a cake made with chopped candied fruit and/or dried fruit, nuts, and spices, and soaked in spirits. A cake that simply has fruit in it as an ingredient can also be colloquially called a fruitcake. In the United Kingdom, certain rich versions may be iced and decorated...
  
  
• gingerbread
  Gingerbread
  Gingerbread is a term used to describe a variety of sweet food products, which can range from a soft, moist loaf cake to something close to a ginger biscuit. What they have in common are the predominant flavors of ginger and a tendency to use honey or molasses rather than just sugar...
  
  , often in the form of a Gingerbread house or Gingerbread man
• mixed nut
  Nut (fruit)
  A nut is a hard-shelled fruit of some plants having an indehiscent seed. While a wide variety of dried seeds and fruits are called nuts in English, only a certain number of them are considered by biologists to be true nuts...
  
  s in the shell and spiced nuts
• tourtière (pâté à la viande
  Tourtière
  A tourtière is a meat pie originating from Quebec, usually made with minced pork and/or veal, or beef. It is a traditional part of the Christmas and/or Christmas Eve réveillon and New Year's Eve meal in Quebec, but is also enjoyed and sold in grocery stores all year long...
  
   & Saguenay-Lac-Saint-Jean varieties)
• pumpkin pie
  Pumpkin pie
  Pumpkin pie is a traditional sweet dessert, often eaten during the fall and early winter, especially for Thanksgiving and Christmas in the United States and Canada. The pumpkin is a symbol of harvest time and featured also at Halloween....
  
  
• mince pie
  Mince pie
  A mince pie, also known as minced pie, is a small British sweet pie traditionally served during the Christmas season. Its ingredients are traceable to the 13th century, when returning European crusaders brought with them Middle Eastern recipes containing meats, fruits and spices.The early mince...
  
  
• roast turkey
• shortbread
  Shortbread
  Shortbread is a type of unleavened biscuit which is traditionally made from one part white sugar, two parts butter, and three parts oatmeal flour. The use of plain white flour is common today, and other ingredients like ground rice or cornflour are sometimes added to alter the texture...
  
  
• stuffing
  Stuffing
  In cooking, stuffing or filling is an edible substance or mixture, often a starch, used to fill a cavity in another food item...
  
  
• trifle
  Trifle
  Trifle is a dessert dish made from thick custard, fruit, sponge cake, fruit juice or gelatin, and whipped cream. These ingredients are usually arranged in layers with fruit and sponge on the bottom, and custard and cream on top....
  
  
• cranberry sauce
  Cranberry sauce
  Cranberry sauce or cranberry jelly is a sauce or relish made out of cranberries, commonly associated with Thanksgiving dinner in North America and Christmas dinner in the United Kingdom...
  
  

Chile

• Cola de mono
  Cola de mono
  Cola de mono is a traditional Chilean drink served around Christmas time, very much like the tradition of serving eggnog during Christmas in North America...
  
   - (Literally, "Monkey's Tail) A Chilean Christmas beverage, with aguardiente
  Aguardiente
  Aguardiente , aiguardent , aguardente , and augardente are generic terms for alcoholic beverages that contain between 29% and 60% alcohol by volume...
  
  , milk
  Milk
  Milk is a white liquid produced by the mammary glands of mammals. It is the primary source of nutrition for young mammals before they are able to digest other types of food. Early-lactation milk contains colostrum, which carries the mother's antibodies to the baby and can reduce the risk of many...
  
  , coffee
  Coffee
  Coffee is a brewed beverage with a dark,init brooo acidic flavor prepared from the roasted seeds of the coffee plant, colloquially called coffee beans. The beans are found in coffee cherries, which grow on trees cultivated in over 70 countries, primarily in equatorial Latin America, Southeast Asia,...
  
  , and flavoured with vanilla
  Vanilla
  Vanilla is a flavoring derived from orchids of the genus Vanilla, primarily from the Mexican species, Flat-leaved Vanilla . The word vanilla derives from the Spanish word "", little pod...
  
   and clove
  Clove
  Cloves are the aromatic dried flower buds of a tree in the family Myrtaceae. Cloves are native to the Maluku islands in Indonesia and used as a spice in cuisines all over the world...
  
  s
• Pan de Pascua
  Pan de Pascua
  Pan de Pascua is a typical Chilean cake that is traditionally eaten around Christmas time. It is similar to a sweet sponge cake flavored with ginger and honey. It usually contains candied fruits, raisins, walnuts and almonds. Pan de Pascua was originally introduced to Chile by German immigrants....
  
   - Chilean Christmas sponge cake
  Sponge cake
  Sponge cake is a cake based on flour , sugar, and eggs, sometimes leavened with baking powder which has a firm, yet well aerated structure, similar to a sea sponge. A sponge cake may be produced by either the batter method, or the foam method. Typicially the batter method in the U.S. is known as a...
  
   flavoured with cloves and with bits of candied fruit
  Candied fruit
  Candied fruit, also known as crystallized fruit or Glacé fruit, has been around since the 14th century. Whole fruit, smaller pieces of fruit, or pieces of peel, are placed in heated sugar syrup, which absorbs the moisture from within the fruit and eventually preserves it...
  
  s, raisin
  Raisin
  Raisins are dried grapes. They are produced in many regions of the world. Raisins may be eaten raw or used in cooking, baking and brewing...
  
  s, walnut
  Walnut
  Juglans is a plant genus of the family Juglandaceae, the seeds of which are known as walnuts. They are deciduous trees, 10–40 meters tall , with pinnate leaves 200–900 millimetres long , with 5–25 leaflets; the shoots have chambered pith, a character shared with the wingnuts , but not the hickories...
  
  s and almond
  Almond
  The almond , is a species of tree native to the Middle East and South Asia. Almond is also the name of the edible and widely cultivated seed of this tree...
  
  s.
• Roasted turkey
  Turkey (bird)
  A turkey is a large bird in the genus Meleagris. One species, Meleagris gallopavo, commonly known as the Wild Turkey, is native to the forests of North America. The domestic turkey is a descendant of this species...
  
  
• Ponche a la romana - Eggnog-style beverage made of champagne and pineapple-flavoured icecream.

Colombia

Colombia

Colombia, officially the Republic of Colombia , is a unitary constitutional republic comprising thirty-two departments. The country is located in northwestern South America, bordered to the east by Venezuela and Brazil; to the south by Ecuador and Peru; to the north by the Caribbean Sea; to the...

 

Colombian Christmas dishes are mostly sweets and desserts. Some of the most popular dishes include:

• Buñuelos
  Buñuelos
  A Buñuelo alternatively called bimuelo, birmuelo, bermuelo, burmuelo, bonuelo; ) is a fried dough ball. It is a popular snack in Argentina, Colombia, Cuba, Mexico, Spain, Peru, the Philippines, Turkey, Greece, Morocco, and is a tradition at Christmas, Ramadan and among Sephardic Jews at...
  
  
• Natilla
• Manjar blanco
  Manjar Blanco
  Manjar blanco is a term used to refer to a variety of delicacies in the Spanish-speaking world. In Spain the term refers to blancmange, a European delicacy found in various parts of the continent as well as the United Kingdom. In the Americas it refers to a sweet, white spread or pastry filling...
  
  
• Hojaldres
• Brevas dessert with cheese
• Christmas cookies
  Christmas cookies
  Christmas cookies are traditionally sugar biscuits and cookies cut into various shapes related to Christmas.-History:...
  
  
• Sweet bread filled with fruits like raisins and raspberries.

Cuba

• Crema De Vie - Cuban eggnog, made with condensed milk, rum, sugar syrup, lemon rind, cinnamon, and egg yolk.
• majarete - corn pudding made with coconut milk, fresh corn, cornstarch, milk, water, vanilla, cinnamon and sugar
• Platillo Moros y Cristianos
  Platillo Moros y Cristianos
  Platillo Moros y Cristianos is a famous Cuban dish. It can be considered to be the Cuban version of rice and beans, a dish found throughout the Caribbean and in Brazil.-Name:...
  
  
• lechon asado

Czech Republic

• vánoční rybí polévka - Christmas fish soup
  Fish soup
  Fisherman's Soup or halászlé ; , ribena chorba; , ribina čorba) is a hot, spicy paprika-based river fish soup, originating as a dish of Hungarian cuisine, a bright red hot soup prepared with generous amounts of hot paprika and carp or mixed river fish, characteristic for the cuisines of the...
  
  
• carp
  Carp
  Carp are various species of oily freshwater fish of the family Cyprinidae, a very large group of fish native to Europe and Asia. The cypriniformes are traditionally grouped with the Characiformes, Siluriformes and Gymnotiformes to create the superorder Ostariophysi, since these groups have certain...
  
  
• potato salad
  Potato salad
  Potato salad is a dish made from boiled potatoes, the versions of which vary throughout different regions and countries of the world. Although called a salad, it is generally considered a side dish, as it generally accompanies the main course....
  
   with mayonnaise
  Mayonnaise
  Mayonnaise, , often abbreviated as mayo, is a sauce. It is a stable emulsion of oil, egg yolk and either vinegar or lemon juice, with many options for embellishment with other herbs and spices. Lecithin in the egg yolk is the emulsifier. Mayonnaise varies in color but is often white, cream, or pale...
  
  , hard-boiled eggs and boiled vegetables
• vánoční cukroví - Christmas cookies
• fruitcake
• gingerbread

The traditional meal (served as dinner on Christmas Eve

Christmas Eve

Christmas Eve refers to the evening or entire day preceding Christmas Day, a widely celebrated festival commemorating the birth of Jesus of Nazareth that takes place on December 25...

) consists of either fish soup

Fish soup

Fisherman's Soup or halászlé ; , ribena chorba; , ribina čorba) is a hot, spicy paprika-based river fish soup, originating as a dish of Hungarian cuisine, a bright red hot soup prepared with generous amounts of hot paprika and carp or mixed river fish, characteristic for the cuisines of the...

 or pea soup

Pea soup

Pea soup or split pea soup is soup made, typically, from dried peas. It is, with variations, a part of the cuisine of many cultures. It is greyish-green or yellow in color depending on the regional variety of peas used; all are cultivars of Pisum sativum.Pea soup has been eaten since antiquity; it...

 and fried fish

Fried fish

Fried fish refers to any fish that has been prepared by frying. Often, the fish is covered in batter, or flour, or herbs and spices before being fried.-Overview:Fish is fried in many parts of the world, and fried fish is an important food in many cuisines...

 (traditionally carp

Carp

Carp are various species of oily freshwater fish of the family Cyprinidae, a very large group of fish native to Europe and Asia. The cypriniformes are traditionally grouped with the Characiformes, Siluriformes and Gymnotiformes to create the superorder Ostariophysi, since these groups have certain...

) served with potato salad

Potato salad

Potato salad is a dish made from boiled potatoes, the versions of which vary throughout different regions and countries of the world. Although called a salad, it is generally considered a side dish, as it generally accompanies the main course....

. The recipe for potato salad differs slightly among every Czech family. The main ingredients are: potato cooked with jacket, canned peas, onions, cooked carrots, parsley and celery, pickled gherkins, cooked eggs and mayonnaise. Some families may add grated apples or salami

Salami

Salami is cured sausage, fermented and air-dried meat, originating from one of a variety of animals. Historically, salami has been popular among Southern European peasants because it can be stored at room temperature for periods of up to 10 years, supplementing a possibly meager or inconsistent...

. The best potato salad is prepared a day before Christmas Eve so that all the ingredients can "mellow" for a day. The Christmas dinner should be the first food consumed that day. Those who do not break the Christmas shrove are believed to be able to see a golden pig on a wall.

Before the Christmas holidays, many kinds of sweet biscuits are prepared. Traditionally, the more kinds the housewife prepares, the greater appreciation she gets. The Christmas cookies are then served during the whole Christmas period and exchanged among friends and neighbours. Very popular is also a preparation of small ginger breads garnished by sugar icing.

Denmark

• æbleskiver
  Æbleskiver
  Æbleskiver are traditional Danish pancakes in a distinctive shape of a sphere. Somewhat similar in texture to American pancakes crossed with a popover, æbleskiver are solid like a pancake but light and fluffy like a popover...
  
   - traditional Danish spherical pancakes (a type of doughnut
  Doughnut
  A doughnut or donut is a fried dough food and is popular in many countries and prepared in various forms as a sweet snack that can be homemade or purchased in bakeries, supermarkets, food stalls, and franchised specialty outlets...
  
   with no hole), sprinkled with powdered sugar
  Powdered sugar
  Powdered sugar, also known as confectioners' sugar or icing sugar, is very fine sugar. When intended for home use, it typically contains a small amount of anti-caking agent....
  
   and served with raspberry
  Raspberry
  The raspberry or hindberry is the edible fruit of a multitude of plant species in the genus Rubus, most of which are in the subgenus Idaeobatus; the name also applies to these plants themselves...
  
   or strawberry
  Strawberry
  Fragaria is a genus of flowering plants in the rose family, Rosaceae, commonly known as strawberries for their edible fruits. Although it is commonly thought that strawberries get their name from straw being used as a mulch in cultivating the plants, the etymology of the word is uncertain. There...
  
   jam
• roasted chestnut
  Chestnut
  Chestnut , some species called chinkapin or chinquapin, is a genus of eight or nine species of deciduous trees and shrubs in the beech family Fagaceae, native to temperate regions of the Northern Hemisphere. The name also refers to the edible nuts they produce.-Species:The chestnut belongs to the...
  
  s with salt and butter
• boiled whole potatoes
• brun sovs (brown sauce
  Gravy
  Gravy is a sauce made often from the juices that run naturally from meat or vegetables during cooking. In North America the term can refer to a wider variety of sauces and gravy is often thicker than in Britain...
  
  ) - a traditional dark gravy, used to cover meat dishes like roasted pork and duck (flæskesteg, andesteg) and the boiled potato
• brunede kartofler - caramelised potato
  Potato
  The potato is a starchy, tuberous crop from the perennial Solanum tuberosum of the Solanaceae family . The word potato may refer to the plant itself as well as the edible tuber. In the region of the Andes, there are some other closely related cultivated potato species...
  
  es
• Julebryg - Christmas beer
• gløgg - mulled
  Mulled wine
  Mulled wine, variations of which are popular in Europe, is wine, usually red, combined with spices and typically served warm. It is a traditional drink during winter, especially around Christmas and Halloween.-Glühwein:...
  
   red wine combined with spices, sugar and chopped chestnuts typically served warm.
• risalamande - rice pudding
  Rice pudding
  Rice pudding is a dish made from rice mixed with water or milk and sometimes other ingredients such as cinnamon and raisins. Different variants are used for either desserts or dinners. When used as a dessert, it is commonly combined with a sweetener such as sugar.-Rice pudding around the world:Rice...
  
  . A dish made from rice, whipped cream and almonds, served cold with cherry
  Cherry
  The cherry is the fruit of many plants of the genus Prunus, and is a fleshy stone fruit. The cherry fruits of commerce are usually obtained from a limited number of species, including especially cultivars of the wild cherry, Prunus avium....
  
   sauce (kirsebærsauce)
• flæskesteg - roast pork
  Pork
  Pork is the culinary name for meat from the domestic pig , which is eaten in many countries. It is one of the most commonly consumed meats worldwide, with evidence of pig husbandry dating back to 5000 BC....
  
   steak with cracklings
• andesteg - roast duck
  Duck
  Duck is the common name for a large number of species in the Anatidae family of birds, which also includes swans and geese. The ducks are divided among several subfamilies in the Anatidae family; they do not represent a monophyletic group but a form taxon, since swans and geese are not considered...
  
   with apple and prune stuffing
• rødkål - red cabbage
  Red Cabbage
  The red cabbage is a sort of cabbage, also known as Red Kraut or Blue Kraut after preparation....
  
   pickled, sweet-sour red cabbage served hot as a side dish
• Christmas cookies - Vaniljekranse, klejner, jødekager, pebernødder, honningkager og finskbrød.
• konfekt, marzipan, caramelised fruits, nougat and chocolate-covered nuts.

Dominican Republic

• Moro de guandules con coco
  Rice and peas
  Rice and Peas also called Moros de guandules con coco in the Dominican Republic.-Dominican Republic:Moros de guandules con coco is a traditional coconut rice and pigeon pea dish served on Christmas. Moros in Dominican cuisine is very similar to Jamaican rice and peas...
  
   - rice with pigeon pea
  Pigeon pea
  The pigeon pea , also known as tropical green pea, toor dāl or arhar dāl , ತೊಗರಿ ಬೇಳೆ kadios , or Congo pea or gungo pea , pois Congo , gandul , gunga pea, or no-eye pea, [Cajanus...
  
  s and coconut milk
• ponche
  Eggnog
  Eggnog, or egg nog, is a sweetened dairy-based beverage traditionally made with milk and/or cream, sugar, beaten eggs , and liquor...
  
   - eggnog
• majarete - corn pudding made with coconut milk, fresh corn
  Maize
  Maize known in many English-speaking countries as corn or mielie/mealie, is a grain domesticated by indigenous peoples in Mesoamerica in prehistoric times. The leafy stalk produces ears which contain seeds called kernels. Though technically a grain, maize kernels are used in cooking as a vegetable...
  
  , cornstarch
  Cornstarch
  Corn starch, cornstarch, cornflour or maize starch is the starch of the corn grain obtained from the endosperm of the corn kernel.-History:...
  
  , milk, water, vanilla, cinnamon and sugar
• Russia
  Russia
  Russia or , officially known as both Russia and the Russian Federation , is a country in northern Eurasia. It is a federal semi-presidential republic, comprising 83 federal subjects...
  
  n potato salad
  Potato salad
  Potato salad is a dish made from boiled potatoes, the versions of which vary throughout different regions and countries of the world. Although called a salad, it is generally considered a side dish, as it generally accompanies the main course....
  
   - not Dominican but has become a tradition. Some Dominicans add pigeon peas
• Macaroni salad
  Macaroni salad
  Macaroni salad is a salad, served cold made with cooked elbow macaroni pasta and usually prepared with mayonnaise. Much like potato salad or coleslaw in its use, it is often served as an accompaniment to barbecue, fried chicken, or other picnic style entrees...
  
   - American macaroni salad
• Pasteles de hojas
  Pasteles
  Pasteles are a traditional dish in several Latin American countries. In Puerto Rico, the Dominican Republic, Trinidad and Tobago, the Caribbean coast of Colombia, and Panama, it is similar to a tamale. In Central American cuisine, it more closely resembles a British pasty or an Italian calzone.In...
  
   - Root tamales
• Jengibre - ginger tea
  Ginger tea
  Ginger tea is a beverage in many countries, made from ginger root. In China, the tea is made by boiling peeled and sliced ginger to which brown sugar is often added. Sliced orange or lemon fruit may also be added to give a flavour. In Korean cuisine, ginger tea is called saenggang cha...
  
  
• Pig roast
  Pig roast
  A pig roast or hog roast is an event or gathering which involves the barbecuing of a whole hog...
  
  
• Pollo al Orno - Roasted Chicken
  Chicken (food)
  Chicken is the most common type of poultry in the world, and is prepared as food in a wide variety of ways, varying by region and culture.- History :...
  
  
• Telera - Mexican bread
• Fruit
  Fruit
  In broad terms, a fruit is a structure of a plant that contains its seeds.The term has different meanings dependent on context. In non-technical usage, such as food preparation, fruit normally means the fleshy seed-associated structures of certain plants that are sweet and edible in the raw state,...
  
   platter - Consists of orange
  Orange (fruit)
  An orange—specifically, the sweet orange—is the citrus Citrus × sinensis and its fruit. It is the most commonly grown tree fruit in the world....
  
  s, apple
  Apple
  The apple is the pomaceous fruit of the apple tree, species Malus domestica in the rose family . It is one of the most widely cultivated tree fruits, and the most widely known of the many members of genus Malus that are used by humans. Apple grow on small, deciduous trees that blossom in the spring...
  
  s, banana
  Banana
  Banana is the common name for herbaceous plants of the genus Musa and for the fruit they produce. Bananas come in a variety of sizes and colors when ripe, including yellow, purple, and red....
  
  s, grape
  Grape
  A grape is a non-climacteric fruit, specifically a berry, that grows on the perennial and deciduous woody vines of the genus Vitis. Grapes can be eaten raw or they can be used for making jam, juice, jelly, vinegar, wine, grape seed extracts, raisins, molasses and grape seed oil. Grapes are also...
  
  s, and mango
  Mango
  The mango is a fleshy stone fruit belonging to the genus Mangifera, consisting of numerous tropical fruiting trees in the flowering plant family Anacardiaceae. The mango is native to India from where it spread all over the world. It is also the most cultivated fruit of the tropical world. While...
  
  s
• Cheese and guava platter - a platter with squared white cheese, yellow potato cheese, soda crackers, and guava paste chunks

Finland

Christmas smorgasbord from Finland, "Joulupöytä

Joulupöytä

Joulupöytä 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...

", (translated "Yule table"), a traditional display of Christmas food) served at Christmas in Finland, similar to the Swedish smörgåsbord

Smörgåsbord

Smörgåsbord is a type of Scandinavian meal served buffet-style with multiple dishes of various foods on a table, originating in Sweden. In Norway it is called koldtbord, in Denmark it is called det kolde bord, in Finland seisova pöytä and in Estonia rootsi laud...

, including:

• Christmas ham
  Christmas ham
  A Christmas ham or Yule ham is a traditional ham dish associated with modern Christmas, Yule and Fennoscandian Jul. The tradition is suggested to have begun among the Germanic peoples as a tribute to Freyr, a god in Germanic Paganism associated with boars, harvest and fertility. It was later...
  
   with mustard
  Mustard (condiment)
  Mustard is a condiment made from the seeds of a mustard plant...
  
   (almost every family has one for Christmas)
• turkey
  Turkey (bird)
  A turkey is a large bird in the genus Meleagris. One species, Meleagris gallopavo, commonly known as the Wild Turkey, is native to the forests of North America. The domestic turkey is a descendant of this species...
  
   (kalkkuna)
• freshly salted salmon (gravlax
  Gravlax
  Gravlax or gravad lax , gravet laks , gravlaks , graavilohi , graavilõhe , graflax is a Nordic dish consisting of raw salmon, cured in salt, sugar, and dill...
  
   graavilohi)
• pickled herring
  Herring
  Herring is an oily fish of the genus Clupea, found in the shallow, temperate waters of the North Pacific and the North Atlantic oceans, including the Baltic Sea. Three species of Clupea are recognized. The main taxa, the Atlantic herring and the Pacific herring may each be divided into subspecies...
  
   in various forms (tomato, mustard, matjes or onion sauces)
• lutefisk
  Lutefisk
  Lutefisk or Lutfisk is a traditional dish of the Nordic countries and parts of the Midwest United States. It is made from aged stockfish or dried/salted whitefish and lye . It is gelatinous in texture, and has an extremely strong, pungent odor...
  
   and Béchamel sauce
  Béchamel sauce
  Béchamel sauce , also known as white sauce, is one of the mother sauces of French cuisine and is used in many recipes of Italian cuisine, for example lasagne. It is used as the base for other sauces . It is traditionally made by whisking scalded milk gradually into a white roux...
  
  
• whitefish
  Freshwater whitefish
  The freshwater whitefish are fish of the subfamily Coregoninae in the salmon family Salmonidae. Along with the freshwater whitefish, the Salmonidae includes the freshwater and anadromous trout and salmon species as well as graylings...
  
   and pikeperch
• liver casserole
  Casserole
  A casserole, from the French for "saucepan", is a large, deep dish used both in the oven and as a serving vessel. The word casserole is also used for the food cooked and served in such a vessel, with the cookware itself called a casserole dish or casserole pan...
  
  
• potato casserole
  Casserole
  A casserole, from the French for "saucepan", is a large, deep dish used both in the oven and as a serving vessel. The word casserole is also used for the food cooked and served in such a vessel, with the cookware itself called a casserole dish or casserole pan...
  
   (sweetened
  Sweetened potato casserole
  Sweetened potato casserole is a traditional Finnish dish from Kymenlaakso, eaten elsewhere in Finland at Christmastime. It is prepared by letting puréed potatoes, mixed with wheat flour, stand at a temperature of around 50°C...
  
   or not, depending on preference)
• boiled potato
  Potato
  The potato is a starchy, tuberous crop from the perennial Solanum tuberosum of the Solanaceae family . The word potato may refer to the plant itself as well as the edible tuber. In the region of the Andes, there are some other closely related cultivated potato species...
  
  es
• carrot casserole
  Casserole
  A casserole, from the French for "saucepan", is a large, deep dish used both in the oven and as a serving vessel. The word casserole is also used for the food cooked and served in such a vessel, with the cookware itself called a casserole dish or casserole pan...
  
  
• rutabaga
  Rutabaga
  The rutabaga, swede , turnip or yellow turnip is a root vegetable that originated as a cross between the cabbage and the turnip; see Triangle of U...
  
   casserole (lanttulaatikko)
• rosolli (salad from boiled beetroots, carrots, potatoes, apples and pickled cucumber. If served with herring, it becomes herring-salad, sillisalaatti)
• various sauce
  Sauce
  In cooking, a sauce is liquid, creaming or semi-solid food served on or used in preparing other foods. Sauces are not normally consumed by themselves; they add flavor, moisture, and visual appeal to another dish. Sauce is a French word taken from the Latin salsus, meaning salted...
  
  s
• assortment of cheese
  Cheese
  Cheese is a generic term for a diverse group of milk-based food products. Cheese is produced throughout the world in wide-ranging flavors, textures, and forms....
  
  , most commonly (leipäjuusto) and Aura (aura-juusto)
• Christmas bread, usually sweet bread (Joululimppu)
• Karelian pasties
  Karelian pasties
  Karelian pasties or Karelian pies are traditional pasties from the region of Karelia...
  
  , rice pasties, served with egg-butter (Karjalanpiirakka)

Other meat dishes could be:

• Karelian hot pot
  Karelian hot pot
  The Karelian hot pot or Karelian stew is a traditional meat stew originating from the region of Karelia . It is commonly prepared using a combination of pork and beef, but lamb can also be used...
  
  , traditional meat stew originating from the region of Karelia
  Karelia
  Karelia , the land of the Karelian peoples, is an area in Northern Europe of historical significance for Finland, Russia, and Sweden...
  
    (Karjalanpaisti)
• reindeer
  Reindeer
  The reindeer , also known as the caribou in North America, is a deer from the Arctic and Subarctic, including both resident and migratory populations. While overall widespread and numerous, some of its subspecies are rare and one has already gone extinct.Reindeer vary considerably in color and size...
  
   (in northern Finland) (poro)
• cold smoked salmon (kylmäsavulohi)

Desserts:

• rice pudding
  Rice pudding
  Rice pudding is a dish made from rice mixed with water or milk and sometimes other ingredients such as cinnamon and raisins. Different variants are used for either desserts or dinners. When used as a dessert, it is commonly combined with a sweetener such as sugar.-Rice pudding around the world:Rice...
  
   or rice porridge topped with cinnamon, sugar and cold milk or with mixed fruit soup (riisipuuro)
• gingerbread
  Gingerbread
  Gingerbread is a term used to describe a variety of sweet food products, which can range from a soft, moist loaf cake to something close to a ginger biscuit. What they have in common are the predominant flavors of ginger and a tendency to use honey or molasses rather than just sugar...
  
  , sometimes in the form of a gingerbread house or gingerbread man
  Gingerbread man
  A gingerbread man is a biscuit or cookie made of gingerbread, usually in the shape of a stylized human, commonly male as the name suggests, although making other shapes, especially seasonal themes and characters, is quite common as well.-History:...
  
   (piparkakut)
• chocolate
  Chocolate
  Chocolate is a raw or processed food produced from the seed of the tropical Theobroma cacao tree. Cacao has been cultivated for at least three millennia in Mexico, Central and South America. Its earliest documented use is around 1100 BC...
  
   (given as presents, eaten in-between meals, called suklaa)
• prune jam pastries (Joulutortut)
• mixed fruit soup or prune soup (sekahedelmäkiisseli, luumukiisseli)

Drinks:

• glogg or mulled wine
  Mulled wine
  Mulled wine, variations of which are popular in Europe, is wine, usually red, combined with spices and typically served warm. It is a traditional drink during winter, especially around Christmas and Halloween.-Glühwein:...
  
    (glögi)
• Christmas beer (Jouluolut)
• home beer (non-alcoholic beer-like drink) (kotikalja)
• red wine (punaviini)
• Marski's tipple (akvavit, vermouth and gin) (Marskin ryyppy)
• milk
  Milk
  Milk is a white liquid produced by the mammary glands of mammals. It is the primary source of nutrition for young mammals before they are able to digest other types of food. Early-lactation milk contains colostrum, which carries the mother's antibodies to the baby and can reduce the risk of many...
  
   (maito)
• sour milk (often drunk by older people)
• coffee
  Coffee
  Coffee is a brewed beverage with a dark,init brooo acidic flavor prepared from the roasted seeds of the coffee plant, colloquially called coffee beans. The beans are found in coffee cherries, which grow on trees cultivated in over 70 countries, primarily in equatorial Latin America, Southeast Asia,...
  
   (kahvi)

France

• oyster
  Oyster
  The word oyster is used as a common name for a number of distinct groups of bivalve molluscs which live in marine or brackish habitats. The valves are highly calcified....
  
  s
• foie gras
  Foie gras
  Foie gras ; French for "fat liver") is a food product made of the liver of a duck or goose that has been specially fattened. This fattening is typically achieved through gavage corn, according to French law, though outside of France it is occasionally produced using natural feeding...
  
  
• smoked salmon
  Smoked salmon
  Smoked salmon is a preparation of salmon, typically a fillet that has been cured and then hot or cold smoked. Due to its moderately high price, smoked salmon is considered a delicacy.-Presentation:...
  
  
• crêpe
  Crêpe
  A crêpe or crepe , is a type of very thin pancake, usually made from wheat flour or buckwheat flour . The word is of French origin, deriving from the Latin crispa, meaning "curled". While crêpes originate from Brittany, a region in the northwest of France, their consumption is widespread in France...
  
  s (Brittany
  Brittany
  Brittany is a cultural and administrative region in the north-west of France. Previously a kingdom and then a duchy, Brittany was united to the Kingdom of France in 1532 as a province. Brittany has also been referred to as Less, Lesser or Little Britain...
  
  )
• chapon
  Chicken (food)
  Chicken is the most common type of poultry in the world, and is prepared as food in a wide variety of ways, varying by region and culture.- History :...
  
   (roasted chicken)
• dinde aux marrons (chestnut
  Chestnut
  Chestnut , some species called chinkapin or chinquapin, is a genus of eight or nine species of deciduous trees and shrubs in the beech family Fagaceae, native to temperate regions of the Northern Hemisphere. The name also refers to the edible nuts they produce.-Species:The chestnut belongs to the...
  
  -stuffed turkey)
• ganzeltopf
  Ganzeltopf
  Ganzeltopf is a traditional Alsatian dish, popular at Christmas, prepared much like a conserve and simmered in the oven with winter vegetables and a bottle of Sylvaner. Alsace is a region situated in the East of France along the Rhine river. It was part of Germany until being annexed by France...
  
   (goose) (Alsace
  Alsace
  Alsace is the fifth-smallest of the 27 regions of France in land area , and the smallest in metropolitan France. It is also the seventh-most densely populated region in France and third most densely populated region in metropolitan France, with ca. 220 inhabitants per km²...
  
  )
• bûche de Noël
  Bûche de Noël
  Bûche de Noël is a traditional dessert served near Christmas in France, Belgium, Canada, Lebanon, Vietnam, and several other francophone countries and former French colonies...
  
  .

• kouglof (Alsace)
• berauwecka (dried-fruit cake) (Alsace)
• thirteen desserts
  Thirteen desserts
  The thirteen desserts are the traditional dessert foods used in celebrating Christmas in the French region of Provence. The "big supper" ends with a ritual 13 desserts, representing Jesus Christ and the 12 apostles. The desserts always number thirteen but the exact items vary by local or familial...
  
   (Provence
  Provence
  Provence ; Provençal: Provença in classical norm or Prouvènço in Mistralian norm) is a region of south eastern France on the Mediterranean adjacent to Italy. It is part of the administrative région of Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur...
  
  ): The thirteen desserts are the traditional Christmas dessert
  Dessert
  In cultures around the world, dessert is a course that typically comes at the end of a meal, usually consisting of sweet food. The word comes from the French language as dessert and this from Old French desservir, "to clear the table" and "to serve." Common Western desserts include cakes, biscuits,...
  
   in the French
  France
  The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...
  
   region of Provence
  Provence
  Provence ; Provençal: Provença in classical norm or Prouvènço in Mistralian norm) is a region of south eastern France on the Mediterranean adjacent to Italy. It is part of the administrative région of Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur...
  
  . The Christmas
  Christmas
  Christmas or Christmas Day is an annual holiday generally celebrated on December 25 by billions of people around the world. It is a Christian feast that commemorates the birth of Jesus Christ, liturgically closing the Advent season and initiating the season of Christmastide, which lasts twelve days...
  
   supper ends with 13 dessert items, representing Jesus Christ and the 12 apostles. The desserts are traditionally set out Christmas Eve and remain on the table three days until December 27.
  • walnut
    Walnut
    Juglans is a plant genus of the family Juglandaceae, the seeds of which are known as walnuts. They are deciduous trees, 10–40 meters tall , with pinnate leaves 200–900 millimetres long , with 5–25 leaflets; the shoots have chambered pith, a character shared with the wingnuts , but not the hickories...
    
    
  • quince cheese
    Quince cheese
    Quince cheese is a sweet, thick, quince jelly or quince candy.The recipe is probably of ancient origin; the Roman cookbook of Apicius, a collection of Roman cookery recipes compiled in the late 4th or early 5th century AD, gives recipes for stewing quince with honey.Historically marmalade was made...
    
    
  • almond
    Almond
    The almond , is a species of tree native to the Middle East and South Asia. Almond is also the name of the edible and widely cultivated seed of this tree...
    
    
  • raisin
    Raisin
    Raisins are dried grapes. They are produced in many regions of the world. Raisins may be eaten raw or used in cooking, baking and brewing...
    
    
  • casse-dents of Allauch
    Allauch
    Allauch is a French commune situated east of Marseille in the department of Bouches-du-Rhône in the Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur region of France. Its inhabitants are called Allaudians.- Location :...
    
     (biscuit)
  • calisson
    Calisson
    Calissons are a traditional French candy consisting of a smooth, pale yellow, homogeneous paste of candied fruit and ground almonds topped with a thin layer of royal icing. Calissons have a texture not unlike that of marzipan, but with a fruitier, distinctly melon-like flavor...
    
     of Aix-en-Provence
    Aix-en-Provence
    Aix , or Aix-en-Provence to distinguish it from other cities built over hot springs, is a city-commune in southern France, some north of Marseille. It is in the region of Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur, in the département of Bouches-du-Rhône, of which it is a subprefecture. The population of Aix is...
    
    
  • nougat
    Nougat
    Nougat is a variety of similar traditional confectioneries made with sugar and/or honey, roasted nuts , and sometimes chopped candied fruit. The consistency of nougat can range from soft and chewy to hard and crunchy depending on its composition, and it is used in a variety of candy bars and...
    
     blanc
  • nougat
    Nougat
    Nougat is a variety of similar traditional confectioneries made with sugar and/or honey, roasted nuts , and sometimes chopped candied fruit. The consistency of nougat can range from soft and chewy to hard and crunchy depending on its composition, and it is used in a variety of candy bars and...
    
     noir au miel
  • apple
    Apple
    The apple is the pomaceous fruit of the apple tree, species Malus domestica in the rose family . It is one of the most widely cultivated tree fruits, and the most widely known of the many members of genus Malus that are used by humans. Apple grow on small, deciduous trees that blossom in the spring...
    
    
  • pear
    Pear
    The pear is any of several tree species of genus Pyrus and also the name of the pomaceous fruit of these trees. Several species of pear are valued by humans for their edible fruit, but the fruit of other species is small, hard, and astringent....
    
    
  • orange
    Orange (fruit)
    An orange—specifically, the sweet orange—is the citrus Citrus × sinensis and its fruit. It is the most commonly grown tree fruit in the world....
    
    
  • winter melon
    Winter melon
    The winter melon, also called white gourd, ash gourd, or "fuzzy melon", is a vine grown for its very large fruit, eaten as a vegetable when mature. It is the only member of the genus Benincasa. The fruit is fuzzy when young. The immature melon has thick white flesh that is sweet when eaten...
    
    
  • fougasse
    Fougasse (bread)
    In French cuisine, fougasse is a type of bread typically associated with Provence but found in other regions. Some versions are sculpted or slashed into a pattern resembling an ear of wheat.-History and etymology:...
    
     (Provençal bread)

Germany

• Christstollen Stollen is a fruitcake with bits of candied fruits, raisins, walnuts and almonds and spices such as cardamom and cinnamon; sprinkled with icing sugar. Often there's also a core of marzipan.
• Pfefferkuchenhaus - a gingerbread house decorated with candies, sweets and sugar icing (in reference to the gingerbread house of the fairy tale Hänsel und Gretel)
• Weisswurst - sausages with veal and bacon, usually flavored with parsley, lemon, mace, onions, ginger and cardamom
• Kartoffelsalat (potato salad) with Wiener (sausages) is traditionally eaten in northern Germany for lunch on Christmas Eve
• Schäufele (a corned, smoked ham) usually served with potato salad in southern Germany for dinner on Christmas Eve.
• Printen
• Oblaten Lebkuchen
  Lebkuchen
  Lebkuchen is a traditional German baked Christmas treat, somewhat resembling gingerbread.Lebkuchen were invented by Medieval monks in Franconia, Germany in the 13th century. Lebkuchen bakers were recorded as early as 1296 in Ulm, and 1395 in Nürnberg...
  
  
• Springerle
  Springerle
  Springerle is a type of German biscuit with an embossed design made by pressing a mold onto rolled dough and allowing the impression to dry before baking. This preserves the detail of the surface pattern. They are most commonly seen during the Christmas season.The name springerle means "little...
  
  
• Weihnachtsplätzchen (Christmas cookies
  Christmas cookies
  Christmas cookies are traditionally sugar biscuits and cookies cut into various shapes related to Christmas.-History:...
  
  )
• Roasted goose
• Carp
  Carp
  Carp are various species of oily freshwater fish of the family Cyprinidae, a very large group of fish native to Europe and Asia. The cypriniformes are traditionally grouped with the Characiformes, Siluriformes and Gymnotiformes to create the superorder Ostariophysi, since these groups have certain...
  
  

Guatemala

• tamale
  Tamale
  A tamale — or more correctly tamal — is a traditional Latin American dish made of masa , which is steamed or boiled in a leaf wrapper. The wrapping is discarded before eating...
  
  s
• ponche (Christmas fruit punch served hot with lots of fruits)
• pavo
  Peafowl
  Peafowl are two Asiatic species of flying birds in the genus Pavo of the pheasant family, Phasianidae, best known for the male's extravagant eye-spotted tail, which it displays as part of courtship. The male is called a peacock, the female a peahen, and the offspring peachicks. The adult female...
  
   (Turkey)
• buñuelos (Fluffy sweet dessert made with corn with maple syrup)
• chicken
  Chicken
  The chicken is a domesticated fowl, a subspecies of the Red Junglefowl. As one of the most common and widespread domestic animals, and with a population of more than 24 billion in 2003, there are more chickens in the world than any other species of bird...
  
   (Prepared with different stuffings and accompanied with various side dishes such as salads or rice)
• fish
  Fish
  Fish are a paraphyletic group of organisms that consist of all gill-bearing aquatic vertebrate animals that lack limbs with digits. Included in this definition are the living hagfish, lampreys, and cartilaginous and bony fish, as well as various extinct related groups...
  
   (Prepared with different spices and side dishes based on rice and coconut, very typical of the northern areas of Guatemala
  Guatemala
  Guatemala is a country in Central America bordered by Mexico to the north and west, the Pacific Ocean to the southwest, Belize to the northeast, the Caribbean to the east, and Honduras and El Salvador to the southeast...
  
  )

Hong Kong

• ginger bread
• roasted turkey
• roasted chicken
  Chicken (food)
  Chicken is the most common type of poultry in the world, and is prepared as food in a wide variety of ways, varying by region and culture.- History :...
  
  

Hungary

• fish soup
  Fish soup
  Fisherman's Soup or halászlé ; , ribena chorba; , ribina čorba) is a hot, spicy paprika-based river fish soup, originating as a dish of Hungarian cuisine, a bright red hot soup prepared with generous amounts of hot paprika and carp or mixed river fish, characteristic for the cuisines of the...
  
   (halászlé) various recipes
• stuffed cabbage (töltött káposzta)
• roast goose
  Roast goose
  Roast goose is a dish found within Chinese and European cuisine.-Southern China:In southern China, roast goose is a variety of siu mei, or roasted meat dishes, within Cantonese cuisine. It is made by roasting geese with seasoning in a charcoal furnace at high temperature. Roasted geese of high...
  
  
• roast duck
  Duck (food)
  Duck refers to the meat of several species of bird in the Anatidae family, found in both fresh and salt water. Duck is eaten in many cuisines around the world.-Types of ducks:The most common duck meat consumed in the United States is the Pekin duck...
  
  
• roast turkey
• pastry roll filled with walnut or poppy seed (bejgli)
• bread pudding with poppy seed (mákos guba or bobájka)
• szaloncukor
  Szaloncukor
  Szaloncukor is a type of sweets traditionally associated with Christmas in Hungary. It is usually made of fondant, covered by chocolate and wrapped in shiny coloured foil, then hung on the Christmas tree as decoration....
  
  

Main dishes

• Hamborgarhryggur, a smoked, cured pork roast.
• Ptarmigan, gamebird in the grouse family.
• Hangikjöt
  Hangikjöt
  Hangikjöt is Icelandic smoked lamb or mutton, usually boiled and served either hot or cold in slices, traditionally with potatoes in béchamel sauce and green peas, or in thin slices on bread such as flatkaka or rúgbrauð....
  
  
• Oven-roasted turkey
  Turkey (bird)
  A turkey is a large bird in the genus Meleagris. One species, Meleagris gallopavo, commonly known as the Wild Turkey, is native to the forests of North America. The domestic turkey is a descendant of this species...
  
  
• Möndlugrautur - a Christmas rice pudding
  Rice pudding
  Rice pudding is a dish made from rice mixed with water or milk and sometimes other ingredients such as cinnamon and raisins. Different variants are used for either desserts or dinners. When used as a dessert, it is commonly combined with a sweetener such as sugar.-Rice pudding around the world:Rice...
  
   with an almond hidden inside (the same as the Swedish Julgröt)
• Caramelised potatoes, Icelandic. Brúnaðar kartöflur (same as in Danish cuisine).
• Pickled red cabbage
  Red Cabbage
  The red cabbage is a sort of cabbage, also known as Red Kraut or Blue Kraut after preparation....
  
  
• Smákökur - small cookies of various sorts

Italy

• panettone
  Panettone
  thumb|200px|right|A non-traditionally shaped panettone loaf.Panettone is a type of sweet bread loaf originally from Milan , usually prepared and enjoyed for Christmas and New Year in Italy, Malta, Brazil, Germany and Switzerland, and is one of the symbols of the city of Milan. Maltese nationals are...
  
  (Milan)
• tortellini
  Tortellini
  Tortellini are ring-shaped pasta. They are typically stuffed with a mix of meat or cheese. Originally from the Italian region of Emilia , they are usually served in broth, meat broth, either of beef, chicken, or both...
  
   (Bologna)
• pandoro
  Pandoro
  Pandoro is a traditional Italian sweet yeast bread, most popular around Christmas and New Year. Typically a Veronese product, pandoro is traditionally shaped like a frustum with an 8 pointed-star section....
  
   (Verona)
• panforte
  Panforte
  Panforte is a traditional Italian dessert containing fruits and nuts, and resembling fruitcake or Lebkuchen. It may date back to 13th century Siena, in Italy's Tuscany region. Documents from 1205 show that panforte was paid to the monks and nuns of a local monastery as a tax or tithe which was due...
  
   (Tuscany)
• prosecco
  Prosecco
  Prosecco is an Italian white wine — generally a Dry or Extra Dry sparkling wine — normally made from Glera grapes. DOC prosecco is produced in the regions of Veneto and Friuli Venezia Giulia in Italy, and traditionally mainly in the areas near Conegliano and Valdobbiadene, in the hills...
  
   (Veneto)
• spumante (Piedmont)
• ravioli
  Ravioli
  Ravioli are a traditional type of Italian filled pasta. They are composed of a filling sealed between two layers of thin egg pasta dough and are served either in broth or with a pasta sauce. The word ravioli is reminiscent of the Italian verb riavvolgere , though the two words are not...
  
  

Jamaica

• christmas (fruit) cake or black cake
  Black cake
  Black cake or dark fruit cake is a type of fruitcake traditionally associated with Christmas and weddings. It is typically made with plums and raisins soaked in rum, as well as brown sugar and a bittersweet caramel called "browning". The wedding version is much stronger than the Christmas one.It is...
  
   - a heavy fruit cake made with dried fruit, wine and rum.
• sorrel
  Roselle (plant)
  The roselle is a species of Hibiscus native to the Old World tropics, used for the production of bast fibre and as an infusion. It is an annual or perennial herb or woody-based subshrub, growing to tall...
  
   - often served to guests with Christmas cake; Sorrel is made from the same sepals as Latin American drink "Jamaica," but is more concentrated and usually flavored with ginger. Adding rum is traditional at Christmas time.
• curry goat
  Curry Goat
  Curry goat is a dish originating in India and has become very popular in Indo-Jamaican cuisine. This dish has spread throughout the English speaking Caribbean and also the Caribbean diaspora in North America and Great Britain....
  
  
• rice and peas
  Rice and peas
  Rice and Peas also called Moros de guandules con coco in the Dominican Republic.-Dominican Republic:Moros de guandules con coco is a traditional coconut rice and pigeon pea dish served on Christmas. Moros in Dominican cuisine is very similar to Jamaican rice and peas...
  
   - a Sunday staple, at Christmas dinner is usually made with green (fresh) gungo (pigeon) peas instead of dried kidney beans or other dried legumes.
• christmas ham
  Christmas ham
  A Christmas ham or Yule ham is a traditional ham dish associated with modern Christmas, Yule and Fennoscandian Jul. The tradition is suggested to have begun among the Germanic peoples as a tribute to Freyr, a god in Germanic Paganism associated with boars, harvest and fertility. It was later...
  
  
• chicken
  Chicken
  The chicken is a domesticated fowl, a subspecies of the Red Junglefowl. As one of the most common and widespread domestic animals, and with a population of more than 24 billion in 2003, there are more chickens in the world than any other species of bird...
  
  

Japan

• Christmas cake - Different from a UK Christmas cake
  Christmas cake
  Christmas cake is a type of fruitcake served at Christmas time in the UK, Ireland, Japan, Philippines and many Commonwealth countries.A Christmas cake may be light or dark, crumbly-moist to sticky-wet, spongy to heavy, leavened or unleavened, shaped round, square or oblong as whole cakes, fairy...
  
   or American fruitcake
  Fruitcake
  Fruitcake is a cake made with chopped candied fruit and/or dried fruit, nuts, and spices, and soaked in spirits. A cake that simply has fruit in it as an ingredient can also be colloquially called a fruitcake. In the United Kingdom, certain rich versions may be iced and decorated...
  
  , the Japanese style Christmas cake is often a white cream cake, sponge cake
  Sponge cake
  Sponge cake is a cake based on flour , sugar, and eggs, sometimes leavened with baking powder which has a firm, yet well aerated structure, similar to a sea sponge. A sponge cake may be produced by either the batter method, or the foam method. Typicially the batter method in the U.S. is known as a...
  
   frosted with whipped cream, topped with strawberries and with a chocolate plate that says Merry Christmas, though yule log
  Yule log
  A Yule log is a large and extremely hard log which is burned in the hearth as a part of traditional Yule or Christmas celebrations in several European cultures...
  
  s are also available.
• KFC
  KFC
  KFC, founded and also known as Kentucky Fried Chicken, is a chain of fast food restaurants based in Louisville, Kentucky, in the United States. KFC has been a brand and operating segment, termed a concept of Yum! Brands since 1997 when that company was spun off from PepsiCo as Tricon Global...
  
   fried chicken
  Fried chicken
  Fried chicken is a dish consisting of chicken pieces usually from broiler chickens which have been floured or battered and then pan fried, deep fried, or pressure fried. The breading adds a crisp coating or crust to the exterior...
  
   - With turkey as a dish being virtually unknown in Japan the popularity of this item at Christmas is such that orders are placed as much as two months in advance.

Lithuania

• twelve-dish Christmas Eve supper
  Twelve-dish Christmas Eve supper
  A twelve-dish Christmas Eve supper is traditionally prepared in many Eastern European cultures, including Lithuanian, Polish, and Ukrainian . The meal consists of twelve meatless dishes representing the twelve Apostles...
  
   - twelve dishes representing the twelve Apostles or twelve months of the year - plays the main role in Lithuanian Christmas tradition. The traditional dishes are served on December 24.
  • poppy milk
    Poppy milk
    Poppy milk is a traditional Lithuanian drink or soup, one of the 12-dishes Christmas Eve Supper Kūčios. Usually it is eaten together with kūčiukai, another traditional Lithuanian Christmas Eve dish.-The drink:...
    
     (aguonų pienas)
  • slizikai ( or kūčiukai) - slightly sweet small pastries made from leavened
    Yeast
    Yeasts are eukaryotic micro-organisms classified in the kingdom Fungi, with 1,500 species currently described estimated to be only 1% of all fungal species. Most reproduce asexually by mitosis, and many do so by an asymmetric division process called budding...
    
     dough and poppy seed
  • auselės (Deep fried dumplings)
  • herring
    Herring
    Herring is an oily fish of the genus Clupea, found in the shallow, temperate waters of the North Pacific and the North Atlantic oceans, including the Baltic Sea. Three species of Clupea are recognized. The main taxa, the Atlantic herring and the Pacific herring may each be divided into subspecies...
    
     with carrot
    Carrot
    The carrot is a root vegetable, usually orange in colour, though purple, red, white, and yellow varieties exist. It has a crisp texture when fresh...
    
    s (silkė su morkomis')
  • herring with mushroom
    Mushroom
    A mushroom is the fleshy, spore-bearing fruiting body of a fungus, typically produced above ground on soil or on its food source. The standard for the name "mushroom" is the cultivated white button mushroom, Agaricus bisporus; hence the word "mushroom" is most often applied to those fungi that...
    
    s (silkė su grybais')
  • spanguolių kisielius - cranberry
    Cranberry
    Cranberries are a group of evergreen dwarf shrubs or trailing vines in the subgenus Oxycoccus of the genus Vaccinium. In some methods of classification, Oxycoccus is regarded as a genus in its own right...
    
     and milk sauce dessert

Mexico

• Ensalada de Noche Buena - Christmas Eve Salad
• bacalao
  Bacalao
  Bacallao was a phantom island depicted on several early 16th century maps and nautical charts. The name first appears on a chart in 1508, but there are earlier accounts of Bacalao...
  
   - clipfish or cod
• romeritos
  Romeritos
  Romeritos are a Mexican dish from Mexico City, consisting of patties of dried shrimp, sprigs of a wild plant known as Romerito that resembles rosemary and potatoes served in a mole sauce. They are traditionally served at Christmas time and Lent....
  
   - small green leaves of a particular type mixed generally with mole and potatoes; generally accompanied with "tortitas de camarón" (shrimp bread)
• pavo
  Turkey (bird)
  A turkey is a large bird in the genus Meleagris. One species, Meleagris gallopavo, commonly known as the Wild Turkey, is native to the forests of North America. The domestic turkey is a descendant of this species...
  
   - Turkey
• tamale
  Tamale
  A tamale — or more correctly tamal — is a traditional Latin American dish made of masa , which is steamed or boiled in a leaf wrapper. The wrapping is discarded before eating...
  
  s - Some Mexican families, particularly in the northern part of Mexico and southern American states have tamales only at Christmas Eve instead of the typical Bacalao, Romeritos and/or Turkey.
• ponche - a hot, sweet drink made with apples, sugar cane, prunes and tejocote
  Crataegus mexicana
  Crataegus mexicana is a species of hawthorn known by the common names tejocote, manzanita, tejocotera and Mexican hawthorn. It is native to the mountains of Mexico and parts of Guatemala, and has been introduced elsewhere in the Andes. The fruit of this species is one of the most useful among...
  
  s. For grown-ups, ponche is never complete without its "piquete" - either tequila
  Tequila
  Tequila is a spirit made from the blue agave plant, primarily in the area surrounding the city of Tequila, northwest of Guadalajara, and in the highlands of the western Mexican state of Jalisco....
  
   or rum
  Rum
  Rum is a distilled alcoholic beverage made from sugarcane by-products such as molasses, or directly from sugarcane juice, by a process of fermentation and distillation. The distillate, a clear liquid, is then usually aged in oak barrels...
  
  

New Zealand

• Pavlova
  Pavlova (food)
  Pavlova is a meringue-based dessert named after the Russian ballet dancer Anna Pavlova. It is a meringue with a crisp crust and soft, light inner. The name is pronounced or , unlike the name of the dancer, which was or ....
  
  
• sausage
  Sausage
  A sausage is a food usually made from ground meat , mixed with salt, herbs, and other spices, although vegetarian sausages are available. The word sausage is derived from Old French saussiche, from the Latin word salsus, meaning salted.Typically, a sausage is formed in a casing traditionally made...
  
  s
• ham
  Ham
  Ham is a cut of meat from the thigh of the hind leg of certain animals, especiallypigs. Nearly all hams sold today are fully cooked or cured.-Etymology:...
  
  
• turkey
• strawberries
  Strawberry
  Fragaria is a genus of flowering plants in the rose family, Rosaceae, commonly known as strawberries for their edible fruits. Although it is commonly thought that strawberries get their name from straw being used as a mulch in cultivating the plants, the etymology of the word is uncertain. There...
  
  
• Christmas pudding
  Christmas pudding
  Christmas pudding is a pudding traditionally served on Christmas Day . It has its origins in medieval England, and is sometimes known as plum pudding or plum duff, though this can also refer to other kinds of boiled pudding involving dried fruit.-Basics:Many households have their own recipe for...
  
  
• Christmas mince pie
  Mince pie
  A mince pie, also known as minced pie, is a small British sweet pie traditionally served during the Christmas season. Its ingredients are traceable to the 13th century, when returning European crusaders brought with them Middle Eastern recipes containing meats, fruits and spices.The early mince...
  
  s
• wine
  Wine
  Wine is an alcoholic beverage, made of fermented fruit juice, usually from grapes. The natural chemical balance of grapes lets them ferment without the addition of sugars, acids, enzymes, or other nutrients. Grape wine is produced by fermenting crushed grapes using various types of yeast. Yeast...
  
  
• chocolate
  Chocolate
  Chocolate is a raw or processed food produced from the seed of the tropical Theobroma cacao tree. Cacao has been cultivated for at least three millennia in Mexico, Central and South America. Its earliest documented use is around 1100 BC...
  
  
• trifle
  Trifle
  Trifle is a dessert dish made from thick custard, fruit, sponge cake, fruit juice or gelatin, and whipped cream. These ingredients are usually arranged in layers with fruit and sponge on the bottom, and custard and cream on top....
  
  
• brandy snaps
  Brandy snaps
  Brandy snaps are a common dessert food in the UK , Ireland, Australia and New Zealand. They are edible, tubular, brittle, sweet, baked casings that are typically 10 cm long and 2 cm in diameter...
  
  
• potato salad
  Potato salad
  Potato salad is a dish made from boiled potatoes, the versions of which vary throughout different regions and countries of the world. Although called a salad, it is generally considered a side dish, as it generally accompanies the main course....
  
  

Norway

• gløgg - mulled wine
  Mulled wine
  Mulled wine, variations of which are popular in Europe, is wine, usually red, combined with spices and typically served warm. It is a traditional drink during winter, especially around Christmas and Halloween.-Glühwein:...
  
  
• Julepølse - Pork sausage made with powdered ginger, cloves, mustard seeds and nutmeg. Served steamed or roasted.
• lutefisk
  Lutefisk
  Lutefisk or Lutfisk is a traditional dish of the Nordic countries and parts of the Midwest United States. It is made from aged stockfish or dried/salted whitefish and lye . It is gelatinous in texture, and has an extremely strong, pungent odor...
  
   - fish preserved with lye that has been washed and boiled
• pinnekjøtt
  Pinnekjøtt
  In Norway, Pinnekjøtt is a main course dinner dish of lamb or mutton. Pinnekjøtt is a festive dish typical to Western- and Northern Norway, served with puréed rutabaga and potatoes, beer and akevitt. This dish is largely associated with the celebration of Christmas, and is rapidly gaining...
  
   - salted, dried, and sometimes smoked lamb's ribs which are rehydrated and then steamed, traditionally over birch
  Birch
  Birch is a tree or shrub of the genus Betula , in the family Betulaceae, closely related to the beech/oak family, Fagaceae. The Betula genus contains 30–60 known taxa...
  
   branches
• svineribbe - pork ribs roasted whole with the skin on, rather than spare ribs
• Julegrøt - Christmas rice pudding with an almond hidden inside
• sossiser - small Christmas sausages
• medisterkaker - Large meatballs made from a mix of pork meat and pork fat
• rødkål - sweet and sour red cabbage
  Red Cabbage
  The red cabbage is a sort of cabbage, also known as Red Kraut or Blue Kraut after preparation....
  
  , as a side dish
• kålrabistappe - Purée of rutabaga
  Rutabaga
  The rutabaga, swede , turnip or yellow turnip is a root vegetable that originated as a cross between the cabbage and the turnip; see Triangle of U...
  
  , as a sidedish to pinnekjøtt
• pepperkake - gingerbread-like spice cookies flavoured with black pepper
• lussekatter - St. Lucia Buns

Philippines

• ham
  Ham
  Ham is a cut of meat from the thigh of the hind leg of certain animals, especiallypigs. Nearly all hams sold today are fully cooked or cured.-Etymology:...
  
  
• queso de bola (edam cheese)
• puto
  Puto
  Puto is Philippine steamed rice cake, eaten as is or with butter and/or grated fresh coconut or as accompaniment to a number of savory dishes for breakfast .-Preparation:...
  
   bumbong - a purple-coloured Filipino dessert made of sweet rice cooked in hollow bamboo tubes placed on a special steamer-cooker. When cooked, they are spread with margarine and sprinkled with sugar and grated coconut.
• bibingka
  Bibingka
  Bibingka is a type of rice cake from the Philippines. It is traditionally eaten during Christmas season.-Preparation:Bibingka is made with rice flour and coconut milk or water. Other ingredients can vary greatly, but the most common secondary ingredients are eggs and milk. The traditional...
  
   - traditional dessert made with rice flour, sugar, clarified butter and coconut milk. baked in layers and topped with butter and sugar.
• Lechon
  Suckling pig
  A suckling pig is a piglet fed on its mother's milk . In culinary, a suckling pig is slaughtered between the ages of two and six weeks. It is traditionally cooked whole, often roasted, in various cuisines...
  
  
• salads(either fruit, coconut or garden)
• Pancit
  Pancit
  Pancit or pansit is the term for noodles in Filipino cuisine. Noodles were introduced into the Philippines by the Chinese and have since been adopted into local cuisine. The term pancit is derived from the Hokkien pian i sit which means "something conveniently cooked fast." Different kinds of...
  
   - Filipino style noodle dish made with sliced meat and vegetables

Poland

• borscht
  Borscht
  Borscht is a soup of Ukrainian origin that is popular in many Eastern and Central European countries. In most of these countries, it is made with beetroot as the main ingredient, giving it a deep reddish-purple color...
  
   (beetroot
  Beetroot
  The beetroot, also known as the table beet, garden beet, red beet or informally simply as beet, is one of the many cultivated varieties of beets and arguably the most commonly encountered variety in North America, Central America and Britain.-Consumption:The usually deep-red roots of beetroot are...
  
   soup) with uszka
  Uszka
  Uszka, , are small dumplings usually filled with flavoursome wild forest mushrooms and/or minced meat. They are usually served with barszcz, though they can be eaten simply with melted butter and herbs sprinkled over...
  
   (ravioli) - Classic Polish Christmas starter.
• carp
  Carp
  Carp are various species of oily freshwater fish of the family Cyprinidae, a very large group of fish native to Europe and Asia. The cypriniformes are traditionally grouped with the Characiformes, Siluriformes and Gymnotiformes to create the superorder Ostariophysi, since these groups have certain...
  
   fillet with potato salad
  Potato salad
  Potato salad is a dish made from boiled potatoes, the versions of which vary throughout different regions and countries of the world. Although called a salad, it is generally considered a side dish, as it generally accompanies the main course....
  
  , carp in aspic
  Aspic
  Aspic is a dish in which ingredients are set into a gelatin made from a meat stock or consommé. Non-savory dishes, often made with commercial gelatin mixes without stock or consommé, are usually called gelatin salads....
  
   etc. Carp provides a main component of the Christmas Eve
  Christmas Eve
  Christmas Eve refers to the evening or entire day preceding Christmas Day, a widely celebrated festival commemorating the birth of Jesus of Nazareth that takes place on December 25...
  
   meal across Poland.
• pickled maatjesharing, rollmops
  Rollmops
  Rollmops are pickled herring fillets, rolled into a cylindrical shape around slices of onion, pickled gherkin, or green olive with pimento. Rollmops can be served held together with one or two small wooden skewers....
  
  
• pierogi
  Pierogi
  Pierogi are dumplings of unleavened dough - first boiled, then they are baked or fried usually in butter with onions - traditionally stuffed with potato filling, sauerkraut, ground meat, cheese, or fruit...
  
   with sauerkraut
  Sauerkraut
  Sauerkraut , directly translated from German: "sour cabbage", is finely shredded cabbage that has been fermented by various lactic acid bacteria, including Leuconostoc, Lactobacillus, and Pediococcus. It has a long shelf-life and a distinctive sour flavor, both of which result from the lactic acid...
  
   and forest mushrooms; filled with white cheese and potatoes
• fish soup
  Fish soup
  Fisherman's Soup or halászlé ; , ribena chorba; , ribina čorba) is a hot, spicy paprika-based river fish soup, originating as a dish of Hungarian cuisine, a bright red hot soup prepared with generous amounts of hot paprika and carp or mixed river fish, characteristic for the cuisines of the...
  
  
• kiełbasa - sausage, and ham
  Ham
  Ham is a cut of meat from the thigh of the hind leg of certain animals, especiallypigs. Nearly all hams sold today are fully cooked or cured.-Etymology:...
  
  
• poppy
  Poppy
  A poppy is one of a group of a flowering plants in the poppy family, many of which are grown in gardens for their colorful flowers. Poppies are sometimes used for symbolic reasons, such as in remembrance of soldiers who have died during wartime....
  
   seed cakes (makowiec, and makówki in Silesia
  Silesia
  Silesia is a historical region of Central Europe located mostly in Poland, with smaller parts also in the Czech Republic, and Germany.Silesia is rich in mineral and natural resources, and includes several important industrial areas. Silesia's largest city and historical capital is Wrocław...
  
  )
• bigos
  Bigos
  Bigos , known as a Hunter's Stew, is a traditional meat stew typical of Polish, Lithuanian, Belarusians and Ukrainian cuisine, considered to be the Polish and Ukrainian national dish....
  
   - savory stew of cabbage and meat
• fruit compote
  Compote
  Compote is a dessert originating from 17th century France made of whole or pieces of fruit in sugar syrup. Whole fruits are immersed in water and with sugar and spices added to the dish, over gentle heat. The syrup may be seasoned with vanilla, lemon or orange peel, cinnamon sticks or powder,...
  
  
• kutia
  Kutia
  Kutia is a sweet grain pudding, traditionally served in Ukrainian, Lithuanian, Belarusian and Polish cultures. Kutia is often the first dish in the traditional twelve-dish Christmas Eve supper...
  
   sweet grain pudding/ in the eastern regions (Białystok)

Portugal

• bacalhau
  Bacalhau
  Bacalhau is the Portuguese word for codfish and—in a culinary context—dried and salted codfish. Fresh cod is referred to as bacalhau fresco .-Use:...
  
   – codfish
• cabrito assado - roasted goat
• borrego assado - roasted lamb
• polvo cozido - boiled octopus
• Bolo Rei
  Bolo Rei
  Bolo rei is a traditional Portuguese cake that is usually eaten around Christmas, from December 25 until the Dia dos Reis on January 6...
  
    (King Cake) - a beautifully decorated fluffy fruitcake
• Bolo-Rei Escangalhado (Broken King Cake)- it is like the first one, but has also cinnamon and chilacayote jam (doce de gila)
• Bolo-Rei de Chocolate (Chocolate King Cake) - it is like the King Cake, but only has chilacayote jam, nuts, raisins and less (or no) fruit, which is replaced by lots of chocolate chips
• Bolo-Rainha (Queen Cake) - similar to Bolo-Rei, but with only nuts, raisins and almonds
• Bolo-Rei Escangalhado (Broken King Cake) - similar to the Bolo-Rei, but in its recipe are added cinnamon and chilacayote jam (gila)
• Bolo-Rei de Chocolate - it is like the Bolo-Rei, but has less (or no) fruit, nuts, chilacayote jam and lots of chocolate chips
• broa castelar - a small, soft and thin cake made of sweet potato and orange
• fatias douradas - golden slices, known as french toast
  French toast
  French toast or Eggy Bread, is a food made with bread and eggs. It is a Christmas time dessert in Portugal and Brazil.Where French toast is served as a sweet dish, milk, sugar, or cinnamon are also commonly added before frying, and it may be then topped with sugar, butter, fruit, syrup, or other...
  
   - slices of pan bread, soaked in egg with sugar, fried and sprinkled with powdered sugar and cinnamon
• rabanadas - they are like fatias douradas, but made with common bread
• formigos - a delicious dessert made with sugar, eggs, pieces of bread, almonds, port wine and powdered with cinnamon
• filhoses - depending on the region, the may be thin or fluffy pieces of a fried dough made of eggs, honey, orange, lemon, flour and anise, sprinkled - or not with icing sugar
• coscorões - thin squares of a fried orange flavoured dough
• azevias de grão, batata-doce ou gila - deep fried thin dough pastries filled with a delicious cream made of chickpea, sweet potato or chilacayote, powdered with sugar and cinnamon
• tarte de amêndoa - almond pie
• tronco de Natal - Christmas log - a delicious Swiss roll, resembling a tree's trunk, filled with chocolate cream, decorated with chocolate and mini - 2 cm Christmas trees
• lampreia de ovos - a sweet made of eggs, well decorated
• sonhos - an orange flavoured fried yeast dough, powdered with icing sugar
• velhoses - they are like the sonhos, but made with pumpkin
• bolo de Natal - Christmas cake
• pudim de Natal - Christmas pudding, similar to flan
• vinho quente - eggnog made with boiled wine, egg yolk, sugar and cinnamon

Puerto Rico

• arroz con dulce - coconut rice pudding with spices and raisins.
• arroz con gandules
  Arroz con gandules
  Arroz con gandules is a combination of rice, pigeon peas and pork, cooked in the same pot with Puerto Rican-style sofrito. This is the signature dish of Puerto Rican culture and also has become very popular throughout Latin America and the Caribbean....
  
   - yellow-rice and pigeon peas with olive
  Olive
  The olive , Olea europaea), is a species of a small tree in the family Oleaceae, native to the coastal areas of the eastern Mediterranean Basin as well as northern Iran at the south end of the Caspian Sea.Its fruit, also called the olive, is of major agricultural importance in the...
  
  s, caper
  Caper
  Capparis spinosa, the caper bush, is a perennial winter-deciduous species that bears rounded, fleshy leaves and large white to pinkish-white flowers. A caper is also the pickled bud of this plant...
  
  s, and pieces of ham.
• coquito
  Coquito
  Coquito is an eggnog-like alcoholic beverage traditionally served in Puerto Rico. It is made with egg yolks, rum, coconut milk, coconut cream, sweet condensed milk, cinnamon, nutmeg, and cloves...
  
   - Puerto Rican spiced coconut eggnog.
• majarete - rice and coconut custard, made of coconut milk, milk, rice flour
  Rice flour
  Rice flour is a form of flour made from finely milled rice. It is distinct from rice starch, which is usually produced by steeping rice in lye....
  
  , sugar, and vanilla or sour orange leaves with cinnamon served on top.
• morcilla
• ensalada de pulpo - octopus
  Octopus
  The octopus is a cephalopod mollusc of the order Octopoda. Octopuses have two eyes and four pairs of arms, and like other cephalopods they are bilaterally symmetric. An octopus has a hard beak, with its mouth at the center point of the arms...
  
   salad
  Salad
  Salad is any of a wide variety of dishes, including vegetable salads; salads of pasta, legumes, eggs, or grains; mixed salads incorporating meat, poultry, or seafood; and fruit salads. They may include a mixture of cold and hot, often including raw vegetables or fruits.Green salads include leaf...
  
  
• dulce de papaya con queso Boricua - spiced papaya
  Papaya
  The papaya , papaw, or pawpaw is the fruit of the plant Carica papaya, the sole species in the genus Carica of the plant family Caricaceae...
  
   paste with Puerto Rican white cheese, sharp cheddar
  Cheddar
  Cheddar is a large village and civil parish in the Sedgemoor district of the English county of Somerset. It is situated on the southern edge of the Mendip Hills, north-west of Wells. The civil parish includes the hamlets of Nyland and Bradley Cross...
  
  , manchego, and/or gouda on a soda cracker.
• guineitos en escabeche - boiled green bananas in Puerto Rican style escabeche
  Escabeche
  Escabeche is a typical Mediterranean cuisine which refers to both a dish of poached or fried fish that is marinated in an acidic mixture before serving, and to the marinade itself...
  
  .
• pasteles
  Pasteles
  Pasteles are a traditional dish in several Latin American countries. In Puerto Rico, the Dominican Republic, Trinidad and Tobago, the Caribbean coast of Colombia, and Panama, it is similar to a tamale. In Central American cuisine, it more closely resembles a British pasty or an Italian calzone.In...
  
  
• pasteles de guineo
  Pasteles
  Pasteles are a traditional dish in several Latin American countries. In Puerto Rico, the Dominican Republic, Trinidad and Tobago, the Caribbean coast of Colombia, and Panama, it is similar to a tamale. In Central American cuisine, it more closely resembles a British pasty or an Italian calzone.In...
  
  
• pasteles de yucca
  Pasteles
  Pasteles are a traditional dish in several Latin American countries. In Puerto Rico, the Dominican Republic, Trinidad and Tobago, the Caribbean coast of Colombia, and Panama, it is similar to a tamale. In Central American cuisine, it more closely resembles a British pasty or an Italian calzone.In...
  
  
• pastelón - sweet plantain
  Plantain
  Plantain is the common name for herbaceous plants of the genus Musa. The fruit they produce is generally used for cooking, in contrast to the soft, sweet banana...
  
   "lasagna
  Lasagna
  Lasagna is a wide and flat type of pasta and possibly one of the oldest shapes. As with most other pasta shapes, the word is generally used in its plural form lasagne in Italy and the U.K. Traditionally, the dough was prepared in Southern Italy with semolina and water and in the northern regions,...
  
  " smiler to pionono
  Pionono
  Piononos may refer to several varieties of pastry popular in Spain, Latin America, and The Philippines.-Spanish version:Piononos are small pastries traditional in Santa Fe, a small town adjacent to the city of Granada, Spain...
  
  .
• pig roast
  Pig roast
  A pig roast or hog roast is an event or gathering which involves the barbecuing of a whole hog...
  
  
• potato salad
  Potato salad
  Potato salad is a dish made from boiled potatoes, the versions of which vary throughout different regions and countries of the world. Although called a salad, it is generally considered a side dish, as it generally accompanies the main course....
  
   - made with chorizo
  Chorizo
  Chorizo is a term encompassing several types of pork sausages originating from the Iberian Peninsula.In English, it is usually pronounced , , or , but sometimes ....
  
   and hard-boiled egg
  Egg (food)
  Eggs are laid by females of many different species, including birds, reptiles, amphibians, and fish, and have probably been eaten by mankind for millennia. Bird and reptile eggs consist of a protective eggshell, albumen , and vitellus , contained within various thin membranes...
  
  s.
• tembleque
  Tembleque
  Tembleque is also a coconut dessert pudding from Puerto Rico.Tembleque is made by cooking coconut milk or coconut cream with milk, salt, cornstarch, and sugar with spices such as cloves, cinnamon, vanilla, and nutmeg...
  
   - a pudding
  Pudding
  Pudding most often refers to a dessert, but it can also be a savory dish.In the United States, pudding characteristically denotes a sweet milk-based dessert similar in consistency to egg-based custards, though it may also refer to other types such as bread and rice pudding.In the United Kingdom and...
  
   made with coconut milk
  Coconut milk
  Coconut milk is the water that comes from the grated meat of a coconut. The colour and rich taste of the milk can be attributed to the high oil content. In many parts of the world, the term coconut milk is also used to refer to coconut water, the naturally occurring liquid found inside the hollow...
  
  .

Romania

• piftie - pork and beef based aspic
  Aspic
  Aspic is a dish in which ingredients are set into a gelatin made from a meat stock or consommé. Non-savory dishes, often made with commercial gelatin mixes without stock or consommé, are usually called gelatin salads....
  
  , with pork meat, vegetables and garlic
• cârnaţi - pork-based sausage
  Sausage
  A sausage is a food usually made from ground meat , mixed with salt, herbs, and other spices, although vegetarian sausages are available. The word sausage is derived from Old French saussiche, from the Latin word salsus, meaning salted.Typically, a sausage is formed in a casing traditionally made...
  
  s
• tobā - various cuttings of pork, liver boiled, diced and "packed" in pork stomach like a salami
  Salami
  Salami is cured sausage, fermented and air-dried meat, originating from one of a variety of animals. Historically, salami has been popular among Southern European peasants because it can be stored at room temperature for periods of up to 10 years, supplementing a possibly meager or inconsistent...
  
  
• sarmale - rolls of cabbage pickled in brine and filled with meat and rice (see sarma
  Sarma (food)
  Sarma is a dish of grape, cabbage or chard leaves rolled around a filling usually based on minced meat. It is found in the cuisines of the former Ottoman Empire from the Middle East to the Balkans and Central Europe.-Etymology and names:...
  
  )
• cozonac
  Cozonac
  Cozonac or Kozunak is a traditional Bulgarian, Romanian and Albanian sweet bread. It is usually prepared for Easter in Bulgaria and Albania, and mostly for every major holiday in Romania....
  
  , sort of Romanian equivalent of panettone
  Panettone
  thumb|200px|right|A non-traditionally shaped panettone loaf.Panettone is a type of sweet bread loaf originally from Milan , usually prepared and enjoyed for Christmas and New Year in Italy, Malta, Brazil, Germany and Switzerland, and is one of the symbols of the city of Milan. Maltese nationals are...
  
  
• Strong spirits:
  • palinka
    Palinka
    Pálinka or Palincă is a traditional fruit brandy made in regions of the Carpathian Basin. Modern commercial production occurs in Hungary, Romania and parts of Austria. It is commonly made from the fermentation of plums, but other fruits used include apricots, apples, pears, peaches and cherries...
    
    
  • rachiu
  • Ţuică
    Tuica
    Ţuică is a traditional Romanian spirit of somewhere in between 45%-60% alcohol by volume. It is usually made from plums.Ţuică is the official name for the drink when it is prepared only from plums...
    
    

Serbia

• fish soup
  Fish soup
  Fisherman's Soup or halászlé ; , ribena chorba; , ribina čorba) is a hot, spicy paprika-based river fish soup, originating as a dish of Hungarian cuisine, a bright red hot soup prepared with generous amounts of hot paprika and carp or mixed river fish, characteristic for the cuisines of the...
  
   for the Christmas Eve
• koljivo - boiled wheat which is used liturgically in the Eastern Orthodox and Greek-Catholic churches
• Česnica
  Cesnica
  A česnica is the ceremonial, round loaf of bread that is an indispensable part of Christmas dinner in Serbian tradition. The preparation of this bread may be accompanied by various rules and rituals. A coin is often put into the dough during the kneading; other small objects may also be inserted...
  
   - Christmas soda bread with a silver coin to bring health and good luck baked in the bread

Spain

• Jamón
  Jamón
  Jamón is the Spanish word for ham. In English it refers to certain types of dry-cured ham from Spain. There are two primary types of jamón: Jamón serrano and Jamón ibérico ....
  
   (Spanish Dry-Cured Ham)
• meat
  • roasted turkey
  • roasted lamb
  • seafood
    Seafood
    Seafood is any form of marine life regarded as food by humans. Seafoods include fish, molluscs , crustaceans , echinoderms . Edible sea plants, such as some seaweeds and microalgae, are also seafood, and are widely eaten around the world, especially in Asia...
    
    
    • langostino
      Langostino
      Langostino is a Spanish word with different meanings in different areas. In America, it is commonly used in the restaurant trade to refer to the meat of the squat lobster, which is neither a true lobster nor a prawn. It is more closely related to porcelain crabs and hermit crabs. Crustaceans...
      
      s - (king prawn
      Prawn
      Prawns are decapod crustaceans of the sub-order Dendrobranchiata. There are 540 extant species, in seven families, and a fossil record extending back to the Devonian...
      
      )
    • shrimp
      Shrimp
      Shrimp are swimming, decapod crustaceans classified in the infraorder Caridea, found widely around the world in both fresh and salt water. Adult shrimp are filter feeding benthic animals living close to the bottom. They can live in schools and can swim rapidly backwards. Shrimp are an important...
      
      
    • lobster
      Lobster
      Clawed lobsters comprise a family of large marine crustaceans. Highly prized as seafood, lobsters are economically important, and are often one of the most profitable commodities in coastal areas they populate.Though several groups of crustaceans are known as lobsters, the clawed lobsters are most...
      
      
    • crab
      Crab
      True crabs are decapod crustaceans of the infraorder Brachyura, which typically have a very short projecting "tail" , or where the reduced abdomen is entirely hidden under the thorax...
      
      
• sweets
  • yema
    Yema
    Yema is a watchmaking company in Besançon, France. They claim that their watches "stand out from the rest by virtue of their specific design and technological characteristics"....
    
     - egg-based dessert
  • mantecados & polvorones
    Polvorón
    A polvorón is a type of heavy, soft and very crumbly Spanish shortbread made of flour, sugar, milk, and nuts. They are produced mostly in Andalusia, where there are about 70 factories in that are part of a syndicate that produces polvorones and mantecados...
    
     - crumbly cakes
  • marzipan
    Marzipan
    Marzipan is a confection consisting primarily of sugar and almond meal. Persipan is a similar, yet less expensive product, in which the almonds are replaced by apricot or peach kernels...
    
    , almond cakes
  • King cake
    King cake
    A king cake is a type of cake associated with the festival of Epiphany in the Christmas season in a number of countries, and in other places with the pre-Lenten celebrations of Mardi Gras / Carnival...
    
     known as roscón de Reyes in Spanish and tortell
    Tortell
    right|thumb|A Tortell de Reis This size, approx. 50 [[Metre#SI_multiples|cm]] diameter, usually serves 8 people.Tortell is a Catalan typically O-shaped pastry stuffed with marzipan, that on some special occasions is topped with glazed fruit. It is traditionally eaten on January 6 , at the...
    
     in Catalan.

Sweden

• Julbord
  Smörgåsbord
  Smörgåsbord is a type of Scandinavian meal served buffet-style with multiple dishes of various foods on a table, originating in Sweden. In Norway it is called koldtbord, in Denmark it is called det kolde bord, in Finland seisova pöytä and in Estonia rootsi laud...
  
   - Christmas smorgasbord
  Smörgåsbord
  Smörgåsbord is a type of Scandinavian meal served buffet-style with multiple dishes of various foods on a table, originating in Sweden. In Norway it is called koldtbord, in Denmark it is called det kolde bord, in Finland seisova pöytä and in Estonia rootsi laud...
  
    ("Christmas table"), a catch-all term for all the dishes served during Christmas Eve:
  • köttbullar - Swedish meatball
    Meatball
    A meatball is made from an amount of ground meat rolled into a small ball, sometimes along with other ingredients, such as breadcrumbs, minced onion, spices, and possibly eggs...
    
    s
  • Julskinka - Christmas ham
  • dopp i grytan ("dipping in the kettle") - dipping bread slices in the ham broth after boiling the Christmas ham.
  • prinskorv
    Prinskorv
    Prinskorv is a small Swedish sausage, somewhat similar to the Vienna sausage . It is usually fried and served with mustard, and is especially popular at the julbord ....
    
     - small hot dog sausages
  • fläskkorv
    Fläskkorv
    Fläskkorv is a Swedish sausage made largely or entirely from pork. Traditionally it is sold raw , and is often served during the Christmas smörgåsbord ....
    
     - pork sausages
  • isterband
    Isterband
    Isterband is a coarsely ground, lightly smoked sausage from Sweden. It is made of pork, barley groats and potato. There are many varieties of isterband, such as "småländska isterband" from the region of Småland, "syrliga isterband" with a slightly sour taste, and "lättisterband" with a low calorie...
    
     - smoked fresh pork sausage
  • revbensspjäll - spare ribs
  • inlagd sill - pickled herring
    Herring
    Herring is an oily fish of the genus Clupea, found in the shallow, temperate waters of the North Pacific and the North Atlantic oceans, including the Baltic Sea. Three species of Clupea are recognized. The main taxa, the Atlantic herring and the Pacific herring may each be divided into subspecies...
    
     (usually of different types)
  • gravad lax - lox
    Lox
    Lox is salmon fillet that has been cured. In its most popular form, it is thinly sliced—less than in thickness—and, typically, served on a bagel, often with cream cheese, onion, tomato, cucumber and capers...
    
    
  • Janssons frestelse
    Janssons frestelse
    Janssons frestelse is a traditional Swedish casserole made of potatoes, onion, pickled sprats, bread crumbs and cream. It is commonly included in a Swedish julbord, but can be eaten on other occasions as well.-Preparation:...
    
      ("Jansson's Temptation") - warm scalloped potato casserole
    Casserole
    A casserole, from the French for "saucepan", is a large, deep dish used both in the oven and as a serving vessel. The word casserole is also used for the food cooked and served in such a vessel, with the cookware itself called a casserole dish or casserole pan...
    
     with anchovies
    Anchovy
    Anchovies are a family of small, common salt-water forage fish. There are 144 species in 17 genera, found in the Atlantic, Indian, and Pacific Oceans. Anchovies are usually classified as an oily fish.-Description:...
    
    
  • vörtlimpa - Swedish rye bread
    Rye bread
    Rye bread is a type of bread made with various percentages of flour from rye grain. It can be light or dark in color, depending on the type of flour used and the addition of coloring agents, and is typically denser than bread made from wheat flour...
    
     with grated orange
    Orange (fruit)
    An orange—specifically, the sweet orange—is the citrus Citrus × sinensis and its fruit. It is the most commonly grown tree fruit in the world....
    
     peel made for Christmas, with or without raisins.
  • knäckebröd - dry crisp bread
  • rödkål - sweet and sour red cabbage, as a side dish
  • grönkål - sweet and sour kale
    Kale
    Kale is very high in beta carotene, vitamin K, vitamin C, lutein, zeaxanthin, and reasonably rich in calcium. Kale, as with broccoli and other brassicas, contains sulforaphane , a chemical with potent anti-cancer properties. Boiling decreases the level of sulforaphane; however, steaming,...
    
     as a side dish
  • brunkål ("brown cabbage")- cabbage flavoured with syrup hence the name
  • rödbetor - sliced beet
    Beet
    The beet is a plant in the Chenopodiaceae family which is now included in Amaranthaceae family. It is best known in its numerous cultivated varieties, the most well known of which is the purple root vegetable known as the beetroot or garden beet...
    
     root
  • an array of cheeses - bondost
    Bondost
    Bondost is a Swedish cheese, also made in the United States, chiefly in New York.This cow's-milk cheese is cylindrical in shape, about 13 centimetres across and 9 high...
    
    , herrgårdsost
    Herrgårdsost
    Herrgårdsost is a semi-hard Swedish cheese made from cow's milk. Made since the 1890s, it is still popular in Sweden today. The aged cheese has a mild, sweet, nutty flavor and small round holes...
    
    , prästost
    Prästost
    Prästost is a Swedish cheese with historical roots in Sweden's one-time custom of paying tithes with agricultural goods including milk. It was common for the church to make cheese from this milk from the 16th though 19th centuries...
    
    , Getost (hard goat milk cheese)
• lutefisk
  Lutefisk
  Lutefisk or Lutfisk is a traditional dish of the Nordic countries and parts of the Midwest United States. It is made from aged stockfish or dried/salted whitefish and lye . It is gelatinous in texture, and has an extremely strong, pungent odor...
  
   - Lye-fish (whitefish) that has been boiled served with white gravy
• Julmust
  Julmust
  Julmust is a soft drink that is mainly consumed in Sweden around Christmas. During the rest of the year it is usually hard to find in stores, but sometimes it is sold at other times of the year under the name must. At Easter the name is påskmust ...
  
   - a traditional, very sweet, stout
  Stout
  Stout is a dark beer made using roasted malt or barley, hops, water and yeast. Stouts were traditionally the generic term for the strongest or stoutest porters, typically 7% or 8%, produced by a brewery....
  
  -like, Christmas soft drink
  Soft drink
  A soft drink is a non-alcoholic beverage that typically contains water , a sweetener, and a flavoring agent...
  
  , originally intended as an alternative to alcohol
  Alcohol
  In chemistry, an alcohol is an organic compound in which the hydroxy functional group is bound to a carbon atom. In particular, this carbon center should be saturated, having single bonds to three other atoms....
  
   beverage called Mumma
• glögg - mulled wine
  Mulled wine
  Mulled wine, variations of which are popular in Europe, is wine, usually red, combined with spices and typically served warm. It is a traditional drink during winter, especially around Christmas and Halloween.-Glühwein:...
  
  
• knäck
  Knäck
  Knäck is a traditional Swedish toffee prepared at Christmas. The name translates into "break" and refers to its hard consistency...
  
   - Christmas toffee
  Toffee
  Toffee is a confection made by caramelizing sugar or molasses along with butter, and occasionally flour. The mixture is heated until its temperature reaches the hard crack stage of 300 to 310 °F...
  
  
• pepparkakor (Gingerbread
  Gingerbread
  Gingerbread is a term used to describe a variety of sweet food products, which can range from a soft, moist loaf cake to something close to a ginger biscuit. What they have in common are the predominant flavors of ginger and a tendency to use honey or molasses rather than just sugar...
  
  ) - brown cookies flavoured with a variety of traditional Christmas spices
• Julost - Christmas cheese
• Julgröt - Christmas rice pudding
  Rice pudding
  Rice pudding is a dish made from rice mixed with water or milk and sometimes other ingredients such as cinnamon and raisins. Different variants are used for either desserts or dinners. When used as a dessert, it is commonly combined with a sweetener such as sugar.-Rice pudding around the world:Rice...
  
   with an almond
  Almond
  The almond , is a species of tree native to the Middle East and South Asia. Almond is also the name of the edible and widely cultivated seed of this tree...
  
   hidden inside
• lussekatter - Saint Lucy
  Saint Lucy
  Saint Lucy , also known as Saint Lucia, was a wealthy young Christian martyr who is venerated as a saint by Roman Catholic, Anglican, Lutheran, and Orthodox Christians. Her feast day in the West is 13 December; with a name derived from lux, lucis "light", she is the patron saint of those who are...
  
   saffron buns

United Kingdom & Ireland

In the United Kingdom, what is now regarded as the traditional meal consists of roast turkey, served with roast potatoes and parsnips and other vegetables, followed by Christmas pudding

Christmas pudding

Christmas pudding is a pudding traditionally served on Christmas Day . It has its origins in medieval England, and is sometimes known as plum pudding or plum duff, though this can also refer to other kinds of boiled pudding involving dried fruit.-Basics:Many households have their own recipe for...

, a heavy steamed pudding made with dried fruit

Dried fruit

Dried fruit is fruit where the majority of the original water content has been removed either naturally, through sun drying, or through the use of specialized dryers or dehydrators. Dried fruit has a long tradition of use dating back to the fourth millennium BC in Mesopotamia, and is prized...

, suet, and very little flour. Other roast meats may be served, and in the nineteenth century the traditional roast was goose. The same carries over to Ireland with some variations.

• Brandy butter
• Bread sauce
  Bread sauce
  A bread sauce is a warm or cold sauce thickened with bread. It is a savoury sauce served with a main meal.The sole survivor of the medieval bread-thickened sauces, the traditional British bread sauce is made with milk, butter or cream, and bread crumbs, flavoured with onion, salt, cloves, mace,...
  
  
• Brussels sprout
  Brussels sprout
  The Brussels sprout is a cultivar of wild cabbage grown for its edible buds. The leafy green vegetables are typically 2.5–4 cm in diameter and look like miniature cabbages. The sprout is Brassica oleracea, in the "gemmifera" group of the family Brassicaceae...
  
  s
• Chocolate yule log
  Bûche de Noël
  Bûche de Noël is a traditional dessert served near Christmas in France, Belgium, Canada, Lebanon, Vietnam, and several other francophone countries and former French colonies...
  
  
• Christmas cake
  Christmas cake
  Christmas cake is a type of fruitcake served at Christmas time in the UK, Ireland, Japan, Philippines and many Commonwealth countries.A Christmas cake may be light or dark, crumbly-moist to sticky-wet, spongy to heavy, leavened or unleavened, shaped round, square or oblong as whole cakes, fairy...
  
  
• Christmas ham
  Christmas ham
  A Christmas ham or Yule ham is a traditional ham dish associated with modern Christmas, Yule and Fennoscandian Jul. The tradition is suggested to have begun among the Germanic peoples as a tribute to Freyr, a god in Germanic Paganism associated with boars, harvest and fertility. It was later...
  
   - Usually a honey or marmalade glazed roast or boiled gammon joint.
• Christmas pudding
  Christmas pudding
  Christmas pudding is a pudding traditionally served on Christmas Day . It has its origins in medieval England, and is sometimes known as plum pudding or plum duff, though this can also refer to other kinds of boiled pudding involving dried fruit.-Basics:Many households have their own recipe for...
  
  
• Dundee cake
  Dundee Cake
  Dundee Cake is a famous traditional Scottish fruit cake with a rich flavour.The cake is often made with currants, sultanas and almonds; sometimes, fruit peel may be added to it. The cake originated in nineteenth century Scotland, and was originally made as a mass produced cake by the marmalade...
  
  , traditional Scottish fruit cake
• Mince pie
  Mince pie
  A mince pie, also known as minced pie, is a small British sweet pie traditionally served during the Christmas season. Its ingredients are traceable to the 13th century, when returning European crusaders brought with them Middle Eastern recipes containing meats, fruits and spices.The early mince...
  
  s
• Nut roast
  Nut roast
  A nut roast or roasted nut loaf is a rich and savoury vegetarian dish consisting of nuts, grains, vegetable oils, broth or butter, and seasonings formed into a firm loaf shape or long casserole dish before roasting and often eaten as an alternative to a traditional British style roast dinner. It is...
  
   (a popular vegetarian alternative)
• Pigs in a blanket
  Pigs in a blanket
  Pigs in blankets Pigs in blankets Pigs in blankets (also known as worstenbroodjes or saucijzenbroodjes (dutch), kilted sausages (UK), pølse i svøb (danish) refers to different sausage-based foods in the United States, United Kingdom, Denmark, Australia, Ireland, Germany, the Netherlands, Russia,...
  
   - Chipolata
  Chipolata
  A chipolata is a type of fresh sausage, believed to have been created in France and similar to an Italian sausage but usually prepared as a very thin, breakfast sausage-style link, often grilled rather than pan-fried or poached...
  
   sausages wrapped in bacon
• Roast turkey
• Roast beef
  Roast beef
  Roast beef is a dish of beef which is roasted in an oven. Essentially prepared as a main meal, the leftovers can be and are often served within sandwiches and sometimes is used to make hash...
  
  
• Roast duck
  Duck (food)
  Duck refers to the meat of several species of bird in the Anatidae family, found in both fresh and salt water. Duck is eaten in many cuisines around the world.-Types of ducks:The most common duck meat consumed in the United States is the Pekin duck...
  
  
• Roast goose
• Roast pheasant
  Common Pheasant
  The Common Pheasant , is a bird in the pheasant family . It is native to Georgia and has been widely introduced elsewhere as a game bird. In parts of its range, namely in places where none of its relatives occur such as in Europe , it is simply known as the "pheasant"...
  
  
• Roast potatoes - roasting with goose or duck fat is becoming more popular
• Stuffing
  Stuffing
  In cooking, stuffing or filling is an edible substance or mixture, often a starch, used to fill a cavity in another food item...
  
  
• Trifle
  Trifle
  Trifle is a dessert dish made from thick custard, fruit, sponge cake, fruit juice or gelatin, and whipped cream. These ingredients are usually arranged in layers with fruit and sponge on the bottom, and custard and cream on top....
  
  

United States

• apple cider
  Apple cider
  Apple cider is the name used in the United States and parts of Canada for an unfiltered, unsweetened, non-alcoholic beverage made from apples...
  
  
• boiled custard
  Boiled custard
  Boiled custard is a sweet beverage usually made with milk, eggs, sugar, and vanilla. It bears a close resemblance to eggnog and is common in the American South.-External links:...
  
  
• candy cane
  Candy cane
  A candy cane is a hard cane-shaped candy stick. It is traditionally white with red stripes and flavored with peppermint or cinnamon; however, it is also made in a variety of other flavors and may be decorated with stripes of different colors and thicknesses...
  
  s
• Champagne, or sparkling apple cider
• chicken and dumplings
  Chicken and dumplings
  Chicken and dumplings is a popular comfort food dish, commonly found in the Southern and Midwestern United States, that is also attributed to being a French Canadian meal that originated during the Great Depression...
  
  , primarily in the southern states
  Southern United States
  The Southern United States—commonly referred to as the American South, Dixie, or simply the South—constitutes a large distinctive area in the southeastern and south-central United States...
  
  .
• Christmas cookies
  Christmas cookies
  Christmas cookies are traditionally sugar biscuits and cookies cut into various shapes related to Christmas.-History:...
  
  
• cranberry sauce
  Cranberry sauce
  Cranberry sauce or cranberry jelly is a sauce or relish made out of cranberries, commonly associated with Thanksgiving dinner in North America and Christmas dinner in the United Kingdom...
  
  
• Dungeness Crab
  Dungeness crab
  The Dungeness crab, Metacarcinus magister , is a species of crab that inhabits eelgrass beds and water bottoms on the west coast of North America. It typically grows to across the carapace and is a popular seafood...
  
  , primarily in California
  California
  California is a state located on the West Coast of the United States. It is by far the most populous U.S. state, and the third-largest by land area...
  
  
• eggnog
  Eggnog
  Eggnog, or egg nog, is a sweetened dairy-based beverage traditionally made with milk and/or cream, sugar, beaten eggs , and liquor...
  
  
• fruitcake
  Fruitcake
  Fruitcake is a cake made with chopped candied fruit and/or dried fruit, nuts, and spices, and soaked in spirits. A cake that simply has fruit in it as an ingredient can also be colloquially called a fruitcake. In the United Kingdom, certain rich versions may be iced and decorated...
  
  
• gingerbread
  Gingerbread
  Gingerbread is a term used to describe a variety of sweet food products, which can range from a soft, moist loaf cake to something close to a ginger biscuit. What they have in common are the predominant flavors of ginger and a tendency to use honey or molasses rather than just sugar...
  
  , often in the form of a gingerbread house or gingerbread man
  Gingerbread man
  A gingerbread man is a biscuit or cookie made of gingerbread, usually in the shape of a stylized human, commonly male as the name suggests, although making other shapes, especially seasonal themes and characters, is quite common as well.-History:...
  
  
• Christmas Ham
  Christmas ham
  A Christmas ham or Yule ham is a traditional ham dish associated with modern Christmas, Yule and Fennoscandian Jul. The tradition is suggested to have begun among the Germanic peoples as a tribute to Freyr, a god in Germanic Paganism associated with boars, harvest and fertility. It was later...
  
  
• hot buttered rum
  Hot buttered rum (drink)
  Hot buttered rum is a mixed drink containing rum, butter, hot water or cider, a sweetener, and various spices . It is especially popular in the fall and winter and is traditionally associated with the holiday season...
  
  
• hot chocolate
  Hot chocolate
  Hot chocolate is a heated beverage typically consisting of shaved chocolate, melted chocolate or cocoa powder, heated milk or water, and sugar...
  
  
• lutefisk
  Lutefisk
  Lutefisk or Lutfisk is a traditional dish of the Nordic countries and parts of the Midwest United States. It is made from aged stockfish or dried/salted whitefish and lye . It is gelatinous in texture, and has an extremely strong, pungent odor...
  
   (among those with Scandinavian
  Scandinavian
  Scandinavian refers to a resident of or something associated with Scandinavia, including:* Scandinavians, a Nordic ethnic group* Scandinavian Airlines , an aviation corporation* Scandinavian Defense, a chess opening...
  
   ancestry]]
• mashed potato
  Mashed potato
  Mashed potato is made by mashing freshly boiled potatoes with a ricer, fork, potato masher, food mill, or whipping them with a hand beater. Dehydrated and frozen mashed potatoes are available in many places...
  
  
• mixed nuts
  Mixed nuts
  Mixed nuts are a snack food consisting of any mixture of mechanically or manually combined nuts. Peanuts , almonds, walnuts, Brazil nuts, cashews, filberts, hazelnuts, and pecans are common constituents of mixed nuts...
  
  
• oyster
  Oyster
  The word oyster is used as a common name for a number of distinct groups of bivalve molluscs which live in marine or brackish habitats. The valves are highly calcified....
  
   stew, composed of oysters simmered in cream or milk and butter.
• persimmon pudding
  Persimmon Pudding
  Persimmon pudding is a traditional American dessert made with persimmons. Although American, persimmon pudding is similar to traditional English dessert puddings, such as Christmas pudding or quince pudding. This style of pudding is generally either steamed or cooked in an oven with a water bath,...
  
  
• pie
  Pie
  A pie is a baked dish which is usually made of a pastry dough casing that covers or completely contains a filling of various sweet or savoury ingredients....
  
  
  • apple pie
    Apple pie
    An apple pie is a fruit pie in which the principal filling ingredient is apples. It is sometimes served with whipped cream or ice cream on top...
    
    
  • mince pie
    Mince pie
    A mince pie, also known as minced pie, is a small British sweet pie traditionally served during the Christmas season. Its ingredients are traceable to the 13th century, when returning European crusaders brought with them Middle Eastern recipes containing meats, fruits and spices.The early mince...
    
    
  • pecan pie
    Pecan pie
    Pecan pie is a sweet pie made primarily of corn syrup and pecan nuts. It is popularly served at holiday meals and is also considered a specialty of Southern U.S. cuisine. Most pecan pie recipes include salt and vanilla as flavorings. Chocolate and bourbon whiskey are other popular additions to the...
    
    
  • pumpkin pie
    Pumpkin pie
    Pumpkin pie is a traditional sweet dessert, often eaten during the fall and early winter, especially for Thanksgiving and Christmas in the United States and Canada. The pumpkin is a symbol of harvest time and featured also at Halloween....
    
    
  • sweet potato pie
    Sweet potato pie
    Sweet potato pie is a traditional side dish in the Southern United States. It is often served during the American holiday season, especially at Thanksgiving, and is similar in many ways to pumpkin pie...
    
    
• Prime Rib
• plum pudding
• Russian tea cake
  Russian tea cake
  A Russian tea cake is a kind of pastry, commonly eaten around Christmas in both Russia and the United States. It is a form of jumble, a pastry common in Middle Ages England...
  
  s
• Tamales
• roast turkey, less often roast duck
  Duck (food)
  Duck refers to the meat of several species of bird in the Anatidae family, found in both fresh and salt water. Duck is eaten in many cuisines around the world.-Types of ducks:The most common duck meat consumed in the United States is the Pekin duck...
  
  , goose
  Goose
  The word goose is the English name for a group of waterfowl, belonging to the family Anatidae. This family also includes swans, most of which are larger than true geese, and ducks, which are smaller....
  
  , or pheasant
  Pheasant
  Pheasants refer to some members of the Phasianinae subfamily of Phasianidae in the order Galliformes.Pheasants are characterised by strong sexual dimorphism, males being highly ornate with bright colours and adornments such as wattles and long tails. Males are usually larger than females and have...
  
  
• Smithfield ham
  Smithfield ham
  Smithfield ham is a specific form of the country ham, a product which originated in the town of Smithfield in Isle of Wight County in the Hampton Roads region of Virginia, USA.-Legal definition:...
  
  , often served on a biscuit
  Biscuit
  A biscuit is a baked, edible, and commonly flour-based product. The term is used to apply to two distinctly different products in North America and the Commonwealth Nations....
  
   or a roll
  Bread roll
  A bread roll is a piece of bread, usually small and round and is commonly considered a side dish. Bread rolls are often used in the same way as sandwiches are—cut transversely, with fillings placed between the two halves.-Various forms:...
  
  
• stuffing
  Stuffing
  In cooking, stuffing or filling is an edible substance or mixture, often a starch, used to fill a cavity in another food item...
  
  , also known as dressing, particularly in the Southern U.S.
• lefse
  Lefse
  Lefse is a traditional soft, Norwegian flatbread. Lefse is made out of potato, milk or cream and flour, and cooked on a griddle. Special tools are available for lefse baking, including long wooden turning sticks and special rolling pins with deep grooves.-Flavoring:There are many ways of...
  
   rolled with butter and sugar, particularly in Northern Wisconsin and Minnesota

See also: Thanksgiving

Thanksgiving

Thanksgiving Day is a holiday celebrated primarily in the United States and Canada. Thanksgiving is celebrated each year on the second Monday of October in Canada and on the fourth Thursday of November in the United States. In Canada, Thanksgiving falls on the same day as Columbus Day in the...

 (the dishes tend to be similar)

Venezuela

• hallaca
  Hallaca
  In Venezuelan cuisine, an hallaca typically involves a mixture of beef, pork, chicken, capers, raisins, and olives wrapped in maize , bound with string within plantain leaves, and boiled or steamed afterwards. It is typically served during the Christmas holiday...
  
   - rectangle-shaped meal made of maize
  Maize
  Maize known in many English-speaking countries as corn or mielie/mealie, is a grain domesticated by indigenous peoples in Mesoamerica in prehistoric times. The leafy stalk produces ears which contain seeds called kernels. Though technically a grain, maize kernels are used in cooking as a vegetable...
  
  , filled with beef, pork, olives, raisins and caper, and wrapped in plantain leaves
• pan de jamón - ham-filled bread with olives and raisins
• dulce de lechosa - dessert made of cooked sliced unripe papaya in sugar syrup
• ensalada de gallina - salad made of potato, carrot, apple and shredded chicken
• pernil - roast pork shoulder