Christmas dinner
Christmas dinner is a meal traditionally eaten at Christmas. This meal can take place any time from the evening of Christmas Eve to the evening of Christmas Day itself. The meals are often particularly rich and substantial, in the tradition of the Christian feast day celebration, and form a significant part of gatherings held to celebrate the arrival of Christmastide. In many cases, there is a ritual element to the meal related to the religious celebration, such as the saying of grace.
The actual meal consumed varies in different parts of the world with regional cuisines and local traditions. In many parts of the world, particularly former British colonies, the meal shares some connection with the English Christmas dinner involving roasted meats and pudding of some description. The Christmas pudding and Christmas cake evolved from this tradition.
Asia
India
Long established Christian communities such as Goan Catholics have pork dishes and beef dishes as part of their main course of their Christmas dinner. These include pork vindaloo and sarapatel. For dessert, a dish called bebinca is popular.The largest Christian community in India, plum cake is a famous dessert in Kerala and family come together and cut the cake after the midnight mass, the cutting of plum cakes after Christmas mass is treated as a tradition in Kerala. Occasionally, wines commonly made from grapes as well as pineapples, gooseberries or other fruit, are consumed.
Japan
Japanese Christmas cake, a white sponge cake covered with cream and decorated with strawberries, is often consumed, and Stollen cake, made locally, is widely available. A successful advertising campaign in the 1970s made eating at KFC around Christmas a national custom. Its chicken meals are so popular during the season that stores take reservations months in advance.Lebanon
Lebanese Christians celebrate Christmas dinners. The feast, usually on the night of the 24th and lunch on the 25th, is a big one. The family gets together at both meals, and some have the leftovers from the dinner prior to the lunch the next day. The traditional offering for Christmas is sugar-coated almonds. Roast turkey is the most common choice of meal. Roasted duck, Lebanese salad and pastries such as honey cake are common. Beirut celebrates Christmas by conducting glamorous and big Christmas parties. Western-style poinsettias, community Christmas trees, and Christmas lights are very popular.Philippines
Christmas dinner in the Philippines is called Noche Buena following Hispanic custom, and is held towards midnight of 24 December. This usually comes after the entire family has attended the late evening Mass called the Misa de Gallo. The centerpiece of the Noche Buena is often the hamón, which is usually a cured leg of pork. This is usually served with queso de bola, literally a ball of edam cheese covered in red wax. Other ubiquitous dishes are pasta and, for dessert, fruit salad. The dinner would usually be accompanied by tsokolate or hot cocoa, made with pure, locally grown cacao beans. Some families prefer tsokolate prepared from tablea or pressed cocoa powder tablets that are either pure or slightly sweetened. Most of the foods served on Noche Buena are fresh and usually prepared the day of Christmas Eve. Middle-class and affluent families tend to prepare sumptuous feasts. Less well-off families would opt for a more economical Noche Buena; the organising of even a simple gathering despite financial difficulties reflects the paramount importance in Filipino culture of familial unity.File:Traditional Filipino cuisine.jpg|thumb|Typical traditional noche buena meal in the Philippines, with a lechón as the centerpiece.
Common traditional dishes served for the main course in the noche buena include: lechón, various types of pancit, Filipino spaghetti, hamonado, jamón, queso de bola, morcón, embutido, chicken galantina, almondigas, paelya, lumpia, menudo, mechado, caldereta, callos, chicken pastel, relyenong bangús, lengua estofado, adobo, and various types of barbecue. Almost all of these dishes are eaten with white rice. Desserts and side dishes include úbe halayá, turon, leche flan, macaroni salad, membrilyo, fruit salad, buko salad, crema de fruta, ensaymada, champorado, mango float, fruitcake, castañas, and various other kakanin like puto bumbong, bibingka, suman, biko, and sapin-sapin. Popular beverages are tsokolate as well as coffee, soda, wine, beer, alcoholic drinks, and fruit juices.
This focus on the family is common to all Filipino socio-economic classes and ethnic groups that observe Christmas. Most – if not all – members from the branches or extended families in a clan are expected to partake of the Noche Buena. Relatives living abroad, especially OFWs, are highly encouraged to return home for the occasion, as it is the most important Filipino Christian holiday of the year. Most families prefer to exchange Christmas presents right after dinner, contrary to the Western custom of opening presents on Christmas morning.
Europe
Austria
In Austria, Christmas Eve is the celebration of the end of the pre-Christmas fast. Christmas is usually celebrated only by Christians. Christmas Eve is historically the day that the tree is decorated and lit with real candles, so that the Christkindl may visit. Christmas Day is a national holiday in Austria and most Austrians spend the day feasting with their family. Fried carp, Sachertorte, and Christmas biscuits are eaten, as are many other chocolate delicacies including edible Christmas ornaments. Christmas dinner is usually goose, ham served with Gluhwein, Rumpunsch, and chocolate mousse.Czech Republic
A traditional Christmas meal in the Czech Republic is fried carp and potato salad which are eaten during Christmas dinner on the evening of 24 December. It is often accompanied by a fish soup prepared from carp leftovers, a traditional Czech mushroom dish Kuba or Černá omáčka made from dried fruits, nuts, wine and gingerbread. Many households also prepare a great variety of unique Christmas biscuits to offer to visitors. These are prepared many days before the feast and take a long time to decorate. It is also common to hang for children wrapped chocolate sweets on the Christmas tree as decoration.Denmark
In Denmark, the traditional Christmas meal served on 24 December consists, according to one representative study, of duck, roast pork with crackling, turkey, or goose. The figures total more than 100% because it was found that some families prepare more than one kind of meat for Christmas dinner. The meat is served with boiled potatoes, red cabbage, and gravy. The main course is followed by a dessert of Risalamande, rice pudding served with cherry sauce or strawberry sauce, often with a whole almond hidden inside. The lucky finder of the almond is entitled to an extra present, the almond gift. Christmas drinks are Gløgg and traditional Christmas beers, specially brewed for the season and which usually have a high alcohol content.Finland
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 dishes. Fish is also served, and with the ham there are also different casseroles usually with potatoes, rutabaga, or carrots. The traditional Christmas beverage is mulled wine, which may be either alcoholic or non-alcoholic.Germany
In Germany, the primary Christmas dishes are roast goose and roast carp, although suckling pig, duck, or venison may also be served. Typical side dishes include roast potatoes and various forms of cabbage such as kale, Brussels sprouts, and red cabbage. In some regions, the Christmas dinner is traditionally served on Christmas Day rather than Christmas Eve. In this case, dinner on Christmas Eve is a simpler affair, consisting of sausages and potato salad. Sweets and Christmas pastries are all but obligatory and include marzipan, gingerbread, several types of bread, and various fruitcakes and fruited loaves of bread such as Christstollen and Dresdener Stollen.Italy
In Italy, the Christmas Eve meal is usually called cenone. The culinary tradition is distinct in Northern and Southern Italy: the "cenone" is celebrated in the South, while in the North, Christmas Eve is a common working day and the main event takes place lunchtime Christmas Day. According to tradition, the Christmas Eve dinner must not contain meat. A popular Christmas Day dish in Naples and in Southern Italy is female eel or capitone. A traditional Christmas Day dish from Northern Italy is capon. Abbacchio is more common in Central Italy.The Christmas Day dinner traditionally consists of typical Italian Christmas dishes, such as agnolini, cappelletti, Pavese agnolotti, pandoro, panettone, torrone, panforte, struffoli, mustacciuoli, bisciola, cavallucci, veneziana, pizzelle, zelten, or others, depending on the regional cuisine. Christmas day is celebrated with a family lunch, also consisting of different types of pasta and meat dishes, cheese and local sweets.
Panettone is originally from Milan and is usually prepared and enjoyed for Christmas and New Year in Western, Southern, and Southeastern Europe, as well as in South America, Eritrea, Australia, the United States and Canada. It is served in wedge shapes, vertically cut, accompanied with sweet hot beverages or a sweet wine, such as Asti or Moscato d'Asti. In some regions of Italy, it is served with crema al mascarpone, a cream made by combining eggs, mascarpone, and a sweet liqueur.
Pandoro is an Italian sweet bread, most popular around Christmas and New Year. Typically a product of the city of Verona, Veneto, pandoro traditionally has an eight-pointed shape. It is often dusted with vanilla scented icing sugar, which is said to resemble the snowy peaks of the Alps during Christmas. The first citation of a dessert clearly identified as pandoro dates to the 18th century.