The anticipation for Christmas Eve is palpable, and across the globe, families are preparing for their special meals. The traditional meals are as varied and diverse as the cultures they come from. Here’s a look at some of the best Christmas Eve meals and recipes from around the world:
Italy
In Italy, the Christmas Eve meal is called La Vigilia, and it is an elaborate seafood feast. It is likely the only meal that doesn’t include meat. Families gather to celebrate with a spread of seafood such as shrimp, calamari, and clams. They also serve pasta dishes like linguine with clams and spaghetti with anchovy sauce. Dessert is often panettone or pandoro with sweet creams like zabaglione.
Mexico
In Mexico, the Christmas Eve meal is called Noche Buena. Families usually have a late-night gathering of tamales, pozole, and buñuelos. Tamales are made of masa dough and filled with meat, cheese, and chili sauce, then wrapped in a corn husk or a banana leaf. Pozole is a traditional Mexican soup made with hominy, pork or chicken, and topped with fresh cabbage, onion, and chili sauce. Buñuelos are sweet pastries that are dusted with cinnamon and sugar.
Philippines
The Philippines is one of the few countries that celebrate Christmas religiously for months on end. The Feast of the Seven Fishes is popular in the Philippines, and families serve a wide variety of seafood for Christmas Eve dinner. Baked lobster, paella, and clams with black bean sauce are included in the feast.
Poland
Christmas Eve in Poland is called Wigilia, and the focal point of the meal is a soup course. Families usually have a bowl of beetroot soup, which is called barszcz czerwony, and mushroom soup. The soup course is followed by a variety of traditional dishes such as pierogi, cabbage rolls, and fried carp. Dessert is makowiec, a poppy seed pastry, and piernik, a spiced honey cake.
Sweden
In Sweden, Christmas Eve is celebrated with a smorgasbord or Julbord of traditional Swedish dishes. The meal includes pickled herring, smoked salmon, Christmas ham, meatballs, and Janssons frestelse, a potato and anchovy casserole. Dessert is usually a rice pudding called Risgrynsgröt, and a saffron-wheat bun called Lussekatter.
France
In France, the Christmas Eve meal is called le réveillon. It is a rich and luxurious meal usually served after Midnight Mass. The meal typically has a variety of dishes such as escargot (snails), foie gras, oysters, and roasted capon. For dessert, families serve a variety of delicacies such as a bûche de Noël, a yule log cake, and galette des rois, a puff pastry with almond cream.
Conclusion
Christmas Eve is the time when families gather around the dinner table to celebrate the festive season. The meals are as varied and diverse as the cultures they come from but share the common theme of bringing families together. Whether it is a seafood feast from Italy, tamales from Mexico, or pickled herring from Sweden, these traditional meals are a deep-rooted part of Christmas celebrations worldwide.