Christmas foods and drinks around the world
Published:Saturday | December 11, 2010 | 12:00 AM
Heather Little-White, Contributor
Christmas is celebrated around the world, but you would not find the same foods served for the festive season. Customs and traditions are different, and even the response to a statement to a waiter, "There's a fly in my champagne", is different with nationalities.
A multinational company held a reception to celebrate Christmas. The waiter gave each guest a glass of champagne but, on inspection, each guest noticed that his/her glass contained a fly.
The Swede asked for new champagne in the same glass.
The Englishman demanded to have new champagne in a new glass.
The Finn picked out the fly out and drank the champagne.
The Russian drank the champagne, fly and all.
The Chinese ate the fly but left the champagne.
The Israeli caught the fly and sold it to the Chinese.
The Italian drank two-thirds of the champagne and then demanded to have a new glass.
The Norwegian took the fly and went off to fish.
The Irishman ground the fly and mixed it in the champagne, which he then donated to the Englishman.
The American sued the restaurant and claimed for $50 million in compensation.
The Scotsman grabbed the fly by the throat and shouted, "Now spit out all that you swallowed." (www.guy-sports.com/humor)
A Jamaican waiter added that the Jamaican would add another fly and demand champagne for another year.
Humour aside, food is a huge chunk of the Christmas tradition and is as important as trimming the tree and singing Christmas carols.
Over the centuries, winter brought about extravagant festivals and there were celebrations to 'ring out' the old year and 'ring in' the new. Christmas is not without with the Christian message reliving the birth of Jesus Christ.
The difference in foods around the world depends on the geography of the regions and country and weather plays a critical role in the types of foods served. In Africa and Australia, Christmas falls in the hottest time of the year. In South Africa, there is a turkey feast with all the trimmings. Australians serve summertime foods and barbecues are popular. Domestically cultivated foods play a page part in the foods served at Christmas time. In the United States, for example, pumpkin pie is a Christmas item because pumpkins are grown in abundance at this time of year.
Turkey
Turkey has become a popular item in several countries.
The domesticated turkey is a large poultry bird. The modern domesticated turkey descends from the wild turkey, one of the two species of turkey. In the past, the oscillated turkey was also domesticated.
Armenia: the traditional Christmas Eve meal consists of fried fish, lettuce, and spinach. The meal is traditionally eaten after the Christmas Eve service.
Brazil: Christmas meal could include chicken, turkey, ham, rice, salad, pork, fresh and dried fruits, often with beer. The turkey is marinated in rum, with onions, garlic, tomatoes, lime juice and other spices, and it may be served with coloured rice and vegetables. Those from lower-income groups only have chicken and rice.
Ethiopia:
France will serve traditional foods with the best meats and wine.
In France, the spread is often quite similar to the traditional British Christmas meal, with turkey and cranberry sauce, mince pies and pudding. Christmas meals in France are remembered for their mouth-watering desserts, especially the bche de No'l, a cake rolled and filled with chestnut cream, then coated in home-made marzipan. Legend has it that these cakes were created in the late 19th century by Parisian pastry chefs who were inspired by the burning of Yule logs throughout the night of Christmas Eve.
Finland: Turkey will also feature in the Christmas evening meal to include casseroles containing liver, rutabaga, carrot and potato, with cooked ham or turkey. Proteins will include liver pate, raw pickled slightly salted salmon and herrings.
Germany: Festive treats consist of spiced biscuits and cakes such as gingerbread and stollen. The first stollen, baked in 14th century, was shaped to resemble the Christ child in swaddling clothes. It is a fruit-laden cake, dense in texture, aromatic and distinctively flavourful.
Italy: Italy probably has the longest Christmas lunch; it is not uncommon for the feast to last five hours. Most families will have about eight courses, including antipasti, a small portion of pasta, a roast meal, followed by two salads and two sweet puddings - then cheese fruit, brandy and chocolates.
Latin America: Several Latin American countries use turkey as central to the Christmas meal served on Christmas Eve and will be prepared and spiced differently in different regions of Latin America.
Norway: The big festive feast takes place on Christmas Eve. Most people around the coastal regions eat fish; concoctions of cod and haddock and a variety called lutefisk. Inland, they go for pork chops, specially prepared sausages and occasionally lamb.
Poland: The traditional Christmas Eve supper consists of 12 non-meat dishes, representing the months of the year and featuring fish such as pike, herring and carp. Other typical Polish dishes are fish soup, sauerkraut with wild mushrooms or peas and Polish dumplings with various fillings.
Portugal: The traditional Christmas meal (consoada) is eaten in the early hours of Christmas Day.
Sweden: Traditional Christmas food is usually a smorgasbord of caviar, shellfish, cooked and raw fish and cheeses.
United Kingdom: It is a British Christmas tradition that a wish made while mixing the Christmas pudding will come true only if the ingredients are stirred in a clockwise direction and each family member has a stir of the mix. Furthermore, a traditional Christmas dinner in medieval England was the head of a pig prepared with mustard.
The Plum pudding
In England, dessert was the original plum pudding thought to date back to ancient times when the winter festival was celebrated with gruel. Later, this heavily spiced 'pottage' often had alcohol added, as well as sugar and dried fruit. Around the start of the 18th century, people started eating something more like the type of Christmas pudding we know today. It is traditionally served flaming with brandy, accompanied by butter brandy sauce.
Christmas beverages
Mulled wine [GlŸhwein]
Mulled wine is a popular Christmas drink in Europe, especially in Austria, Switzerland and Germany. The main ingredients are red wine, fruit, cloves and cinnamon, and the wine is served hot by street vendors at Christmas fairs and it is also sold in many skiing regions in Europe.
Will and Guy's Recipe for Mulled Wine at Christmas
Ingredients
1 bottle of red wine [a cabernet sauvignon or a merlot]
1/2 pint of water
4oz of brown sugar
1 orange
1 lemon
4 cloves
2 cardamom pods
2 bay leaves
2 cinnamon sticks
Method:
1. Thinly slice the orange and the lemon.
2. Pour the water into a heavy-bottomed pan and add the sugar and the spices.
3. Heat until the mixture is boiling and then remove the pan from the cooker.
4. Add the lemon slices.
5. Allow the mixture to cool down for about 10 minutes.
6. Add the wine, and heat gently. Do not boil, as the alcohol will evaporate.
7. When your mulled wine is hot enough, take it off the heat and strain it into a warm bowl. Serve into mugs or special mulled wine glasses and add a slice of orange.
Variation:
Non-alcoholic version
Try to be inventive and create a non-alcoholic cocktail or punch. We would suggest that you create something festive using sorrel, cranberry juice, spices, apple juice, tangerine juice and sliced fruits.
Champagne for Christmas
Champagne is a traditional Christmas beverage and millions of bottles are popped every year. Alternatives, however, are available in the shape of sparkling wines like Cava from Spain and Asti from Italy. Today, there are fizzy wines are made in the United States, the United Kingdom, as well as in many countries in Europe. Orange juice is commonly added to champagne.
Soft drinks: A variety of soft drinks are used for children or for those who are driving.
Eggnog: The origins of eggnog are associated with England, though a similar drink was developed as a posset (a mediaeval European beverage made with hot milk). The 'nog' part of its name may stem from the word 'noggin', a Middle English term used to describe a small, wooden, carved mug used to serve alcohol. Egg flip is another name for this British drink made from milk and/or cream, sugar and beaten eggs and flavoured with ground cinnamon and nutmeg and various liquors such as brandy, rum, whiskey or liquors.
Wherever you eat in the world this Christmas, enjoy your feasting and celebrations. Have a merry Christmas! Felices Navidades! Joyeux Noël! Hyvaa joula! God jul! Jutdlime pivdluarit ukiortame pivdluaritlo! Sretan Bozic! Zalig Kerstfeest! Kala Christouyenna! Boas Festas! Srozhdestvom Kristovym! Frshliche Weinachten! (www.eatwell.gov.uk)
Ethiopia:
Heather Little-White, PhD, is a nutrition and lifestyle consultant in Kingston. Email feedback to saturdaylife@gleanerjm.com.