List of Christmas dishes

This is a list of Christmas dishes by country.
Panettone (known locally as pan dulce) and turrón are the most popular Christmas sweets in Argentina regardless of socioeconomic status, with 76% of Argentines choosing the former and 59% the latter in 2015. Mantecol, a typical peanut dessert, is also popular, being favored by 49% of Argentines in the same survey. Sparkling wines, ciders and frizzantes concentrate most of their sales during Christmas season; sparkling wine is mostly consumed by small families with high and medium socioeconomic status living in Greater Buenos Aires and the country's largest cities, while cider and frizzantes are popular among lower classes and large families.
Colombian Christmas dishes are mostly sweets and desserts. Some of the most popular dishes include:
Before the Christmas holidays, many kinds of sweet biscuits are prepared. These sweet biscuits are then served during the whole Christmas period and exchanged among friends and neighbours. Also very popular are a preparation of small gingerbreads garnished by sugar icing.
Drinks:
Desserts:
Christmas smorgasbord from Finland, "joulupöytä", (translated "Yule table"), a traditional display of Christmas food served at Christmas in Finland, similar to the Swedish smörgåsbord, including:
Other meat dishes could be:
Desserts:
Drinks:
Indian Christians and Pakistani Christians in Indian subcontinent celebrate Christmas by enjoying several dishes, such as Allahabadi cake, Candy canes, Plum cakes etc. Some of the popular dishes eaten during Christmas in India and Pakistan are:
Church services are also held in churches throughout India and Pakistan, in which Christmas dinners are held which include dishes such as Allahabadi cake, candy canes, Christmas cookies.
The Koswad is a set of sweets and snacks prepared in the Christmastide by people of the Konkan region. South Indian states such as Kerala have traditions observed of home-brewed wine, mostly grapes but sometimes other fruits as well like apple and rose apple; ethnic recipes of slow-cooked beef fry, rice and coconut Hoppers, lamb stew, fried rice Indian and fusion style; desserts such as Falooda, pastry, and a whole array of steamed, boiled or baked sweets, often with coconut, jaggery, sugar and spices such as cardamom and cloves (Achappam, Murukku, Tapioca chip, Sukiyan, Neyyappam).
Christmas in Italy (Italian: Natale, Italian: [naˈtaːle]) is one of the country's major holidays and begins on 8 December, with the Feast of the Immaculate Conception, the day on which traditionally the Christmas tree is mounted and ends on 6 January, of the following year with the Epiphany (Italian: Epifania, Italian: [epifaˈniːa]). According to tradition, the Christmas Eve dinner must not contain meat. A popular Christmas Day dish in Naples and in Southern Italy is capitone, which is a female eel. A traditional Christmas Day dish from Northern Italy is capon (gelded chicken). Abbacchio is more common in Central Italy. The Christmas Day dinner traditionally consists by typical Italian Christmas dishes, such as abbacchio, agnolini, cappelletti, Pavese agnolotti, panettone, pandoro, torrone, panforte, struffoli, mustacciuoli, bisciola, cavallucci, veneziana, pizzelle, zelten, or others, depending on the regional cuisine. Christmas on 25 December is celebrated with a family lunch, also consisting of different types of pasta and meat dishes, cheese and local sweets.
On 24 December, Christmas Eve, twelve dishes are served as a reminder of the Twelve Apostles. Polish people often do not eat meat on this day; instead, they choose from a variety of fish and vegetable dishes. The meal begins when the first star is seen.
Drinks:
Dessert:
Romanian Christmas foods are mostly pork-based dishes. Five days before Christmas, Romanians are celebrating the Ignat Day, a religious holy day dedicated to the Holy Martyr Ignatius Theophorus, associated with a practice that takes place especially on villages scattered around the country: the ritual of slaughtering the pigs. And they are using everything from the pigs: from their blood to their ears. Five days later their tables are filled not only with generous pork roasts but also with:
Christmas is in the summer in South Africa, so many summer fruits such as watermelon and cantaloupes are enjoyed at this time. Popular desserts include trifle, melktert and peppermint crisp tart. Many people in South Africa hold Braai barbecues for Christmas or New Year's Day.
In Trinidad and Tobago traditional meals consists of generous helpings of baked ham, pastelles, black fruit cake, sweet breads, along with traditional drinks such as sorrel, ginger beer, and ponche de crème. The ham is the main item on the Christmas menu with sorrel to accompany it.
Orthodox and Roman Catholic Christians in Ukraine traditionally have two Christmas dinners. The first is a Lent Dinner, it is held on January 6 and should consist of meatless dishes. The second is a Christmas Festive dinner held on January 7, when the meat dishes and alcohol are already allowed on the table. The dinner normally has 12 dishes which represent Jesus's 12 disciples. Both Christmas dinners traditionally include a number of authentic Ukrainian dishes, which have over thousand-year history and date back to pagan times.
In the United Kingdom, what is now regarded as the traditional meal consists of roast turkey with cranberry sauce, served with roast potatoes and parsnips and other vegetables, followed by Christmas pudding, a heavy steamed pudding made with dried fruit, suet, and very little flour. Other roast meats may be served, and in the nineteenth century the traditional roast was goose. The same carries over to Ireland with some variations.
See also: Thanksgiving Dinner (many dishes tend to be similar)