Fancy a bit of KFC on Christmas Day? Or how about fried carp? While the USA has mirrored Britain's love-affair with the turkey, turkey has not caught on as a Christmas dish in many other places around the world.
From raw fish in Norway and deep-fried chicken in Japan, we've rounded up some of the most unusual festive foods and delve deeper into the origin of the traditions. Would you serve them up to your guests?
1. Fried carp, Poland
In Poland, 12 different dishes are served on Christmas eve, with no meat or alcohol. “These 12 dishes won't be the same in every region,” says our Polish friend Karolina Mroczek.
“I'm from the east so we share some Christmas foods with Ukraine. My favourite is either fried carp or jellied carp. When I was younger, you'd queue up to buy your live carp days before Christmas and keep in the bath before slaughtering it on the 24th so it was fresh.
"You then keep a scale from your carp and hide it somewhere on the table: the person who finds it can expect good fortune! You eat supper on Christmas eve once the first star appears in the sky and leave one spare set of plate and cutlery for an 'unexpected guest'. It's a lovely tradition.”
2. Gubbröra, Sweden
Unlikely to do wonders for your love life, gubbröra is a Swedish egg and anchovy or herring mixture served up during Easter, midsummer and December. The delicacy is a regular during a Swedish julbord, a banquet consisting of at least five courses.
Expect fish and more fish in the first three courses, including variations of that national (and Scandinavian) speciality, pickled herring, as well as lutfisk (also eaten in Norway). This is an air-dried whitefish (usually cod) that’s rehydrated in a weak lye solution to give it a gelatinous jellied texture.
3. Rakfisk, Norway
Norway’s most infamous Christmas dishes are rakfisk and smalahove. The former is raw fish that’s left to ferment or rot underground, the latter is made by steaming a sheep’s head before serving it with potatoes and rutabaga (turnip).
Admittedly, smalahove isn’t commonly eaten in much of Norway away from the west and is often the preserve of quizzical tourists.
Over to our Norwegian neighbour, Hågen: “The main regional dishes in Norway are ribbe, which is similar to pork belly and served with boiled potatoes, fermented cabbage and cranberry jam. There’s also the excellent pinnekjøtt, which is dried and heavily-salted lamb meat on the bone, which you steam for a day and serve with mashed potatoes.
"But my dad eats lutefisk [see Sweden’s lutfisk], which is something I’ve yet to try!”
4. Narwhal mattak, Greenland
Mattak and kiviak are traditional dishes in Greenland. Mattak is a strip of skin taken from the narwhal or white whale with the blubber still attached. The skin is then carved up and served in bite-sized chunks – apparently it tastes like coconut.
Kiviak is the flesh of a small Arctic bird called an auk, which is then stuffed inside a sealskin before being buried for several months to ferment.
5. Kentucky fried chicken, Japan
Christmas Day isn’t a national holiday in Japan but, thanks to an ingenious advertising campaign by KFC in the 1970s (complete with the slogan: 'Kurisumasu ni wa Kentakkii', or 'Kentucky for Christmas'!), fried chicken is now a staple of the Japanese Yuletide experience.
It’s so in demand that branches start to take orders months in advance, with around 3.6 million Japanese citizens expected to chow down on Colonel Sander’s crispy coating come Christmas day.
6. Capitone, Italy
For the Christmas Eve feast in Southern Italy, especially in Naples, a capitone (from the Latin capito, meaning big head) is eaten. This is a female eel, which has a larger head than the male.
Killing the snake-like capitone symbolises the final victory of good over the serpent of evil. Like Poland’s carp (see number seven), capitone eels are often sold alive then slaughtered at home, before being fried or grilled and served with cabbage.
7. Pavlova, Australia and New Zealand
Brits have long imagined Australians having their Christmas dinner on the beach, complete with shrimps on the barbie and a can of Fosters lager in hand. Neither is a common sight, with crayfish, lobster and ‘snags’ (Aussie for sausage) all griddled, and cold cuts of ham and turkey and freshly peeled prawns also in the mix.
As for the beer, Fosters pales in popularity compared to the national beers of VB and Castlemaine XXXX. As in New Zealand, festive meals are finished off with a showstopper pavlova: a baked meringue nest filled with whipped cream and typically topped with kiwifruit or strawberries.
8. Lechón, Philippines
The Philippines is reported to have the longest Christmas season in the world, hardly surprising given they start celebrating in September and continue the festivities until 6th January.
Once midnight mass on Christmas Eve finally arrives, Filipinos have a huge Noche Buena (the good night) feast featuring lechón, which is a spit-roasted suckling pig. You’ll also find queso de bola, a ball of cheese that’s covered in red wax and looks much like a spherical Babybell.
9. Roscon de Reyes, Spain
There are regional variations to Christmas dishes in Spain, but two nationally popular treats are turrón (nougat) and Roscón de Reyes (king’s cake).
The latter is a sweetened, brioche-esque ring-shaped bun decorated with glazed fruits. It’s served on 6th January when Spain celebrates Dia de los Reyes (King’s Day). People hide a small toy inside, which is
said to bring a year of luck to whoever finds it.
Christmas cornbread, USA
The USA has largely mirrored Britain’s love of turkey, making the roasted bird – along with a ham – the centrepiece of Christmas. Aside from Brussels sprouts being less popular, a variation from the classic British roast dinner bonanza is Christmas cornbread.
It originates in the south and follows the classic cornbread recipe but is served with a cinnamon butter.
Delve deeper into British Christmas traditions...
- Guide to mistletoe: history, how it became a Christmas tradition and how to grow your own mistletoe
- Who invented the Christmas tree?
- History of British Christmas traditions
Main image: Getty Images
