Christmas holidays are a time for celebrations. Whether it’s the kids playing games out in the snow and building a snowman, a family game night, singing carols or a late-night house party, it is a season of love and joy for all. Though every age and culture has its own Christmas activities and traditions, there is one thing that everyone across the world looks forward to. The Christmas dinner feast with family and friends.
“Like snowflakes, my Christmas memories gather and dance - each beautiful, unique, and gone too soon.” - Deborah Whipp
Italy – Feast of Seven Fishes
Italy is blessed with a long coastline in the middle of the Mediterranean Sea providing the nation with the ocean’s bounty. The Christmas season in Southern Italy celebrates the bounty as an expression of gratitude and love. Traditionally called Festa Dei Sette Pesci, it is a traditional Italian dinner that consists of a seven-course menu. In this grand meal, one can enjoy the fresh catch including cod, octopus, clams, carp, calamari, shrimps, mussels and even fried eel. The variety of different fish used for the meal is a matter of pride for Italians and bragging rights for the rest of the winter.
The meal usually starts off with light appetizers like fried shrimp, calamari or grilled oysters along with a salad made with fresh winter greens like arugula, endives and radicchio with a generous amount of seafood. A whole fish on the table signifies abundance be it either baked or fried. The centrepiece is a hearty seafood stew like the Fisherman style Cioppino or Cacciucco which is cooked in tomato sauce and stock or the Brodetto which has a pale white colour from onion, garlic and seafood stock. A heaping seafood pasta completes the all-Italian Christmas experience.
In Northern Italy, you will find the classic Christmas bread, Panettone, which is enriched with candied fruits as well as torrone, nougat and nuts. While Sicily is famed for its desserts like cannoli, cassata and gelato al pistachio, the Christmas feast features Buccellato, a circular cake laced with dried figs, almonds and pine nuts. It owes much of its distinctive flavour to marsala, a unique fortified wine added to the pastry dough before oven-baking.
Germany
The Germans are known for their merry-making with simple yet extensive feasts paired with beer and wine. Celebrations begin in Germany with a simple dinner on Christmas Eve followed by a family feast on Christmas Day. The traditional German Christmas feast features the Weihnachtsgans or the Christmas goose. Other than the traditional roasted goose, the main course at family feasts includes roasted duck, carp or rabbit along with sides of sausage stuffing and blood sausages, roasted potatoes and potato dumplings, brussel sprouts, salads and red cabbage. The country’s most-loved holiday dessert is Stollen, a long, flat sweetened bread that is packed with marzipan, rum and dried fruits similar to a fruit cake along with lebkuchen or spice cakes.
Between the mugs of beer, Christmas in Germany calls for a warm pitcher of mulled wine known as feuerzangenbowle. Translating to “fire tong punch”, this drink is no ordinary mulled wine. It starts off as a normal warm red wine infused with orange peel, cinnamon and cardamom. The drink transforms into something magical as a rum-soaked sugar cone known as zuckerhut is set on fire over the wine, filling the spiced red liquid with drops of caramelised, boozy sugar.
France - Le Réveillon
Christmas dinners in France are a very grand and elegant affair with an extravagant spread of food and wine known as Le Réveillon. The name is derived from the verb ‘réveiller’, meaning ‘to wake’ as eating all of the luxurious food and drink amongst conversations and celebrations takes so long that it often involves staying up until the early hours of the morning.
It is one of the most decadent of feasts with the appetizer courses including lobsters, oysters, escargot, pate or foie gras along with a cheese board. The prime centrepiece is a roasted turkey along with other main dishes like Coq Au Vin, a traditional chicken stew with red wine, mushrooms and bacon and a Bouillabaisse, a traditional seafood stew from Provence. The feast also boasts an array of side dishes including chestnut stuffing, roasted potatoes, glazed carrots, gratinated vegetables and green beans almondine. The meal is accompanied by a catalogue of rich wines and champagnes paired with every course.
In Provence, 13 courses of desserts are served which represent the 12 apostles and Jesus Christ accompanied by curated wines and champagne. These include fresh fruits, candied citrus peel, almonds and walnuts among classic pastries. All over France, the most popular dessert for Christmas is the Bûche de Noël or Yule Log, a rolled sponge cake with chocolate buttercream and sprinkled icing sugar to resemble the snow on a wooden log. It represents the wooden log burned in homes for warmth on Christmas Eve with wine sprinkled on it.
Australia
Christmas in Australia is a completely different affair than any other place because December is the peak of the summer season in Australia. While the traditional English-style roast dinners were popular Christmas fare once, in recent years, dining al fresco while sunbathing on the poolside with meat and seafood barbecues has become the perfect way to beat the summer heat.
A pool party with a cold beer and grilled lamb chops is what Christmas in Australia looks like. Prawns are quintessential for an Australian Christmas. People line up in queues at the fish markets to stock up on prawns for their party. The sides include cold cuts, oysters, and salads. The most popular choice of dessert is the Pavlova made from a hardened meringue shell with soft marshmellow-like layers inside topped with mixed berries and fruits.
