2. Christmas food

Transcript item

Sally: We have the traditional British Christmas dinner with turkey, roast potatoes, Brussels sprouts, which everyone loves, sage and onion stuffing, gravy.

Ruth: I'm vegetarian, so I don't eat turkey, but I do eat parsnips, roast potatoes, sprouts, etc. – all the trimmings.

Kerstin: ... then some nice desserts like rabanadas, I think it's French toast, sonhos and filhoses which is also like pastry, which is fried, very tasty.

Susy: In Cartagena, we have something that's called Posta negra Cartagenera, which is meat made with panela, with something that we get out of the sugar cane.

Tina: For our main part of the meal, we normally have a turkey, so roast turkey and huge one. I love a huge turkey so that you've got it for days afterwards.

 

For many people, Christmas is a very special time of year, and they like to celebrate by sharing a special meal with family and friends.

Watch the video to find out what some of our British Council colleagues eat at Christmas.

Tell us about you!

  • If you celebrate Christmas, what are some types of traditional Christmas food in your country?
  • Do you have a special meal for a different celebration? What do you have?

Tell us about the food you eat for Christmas or other celebrations in the comments below, and if you want to share a photo of your food, please upload an image with your comment. 

* Please don't include any people in your photos (even if you can't see their faces) as it's not allowed under the British Council's data protection and child protection policy. We're sorry, but we won't be able to add these.

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Average: 3.3 (6 votes)

Submitted by rechan_2711 on Mon, 09/01/2023 - 05:12

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hai, all! I'm regina from Indonesia, in last Christmas, I don't have any special Christmas food cuz my family don't cook for Christmas and I think Christmas last year, my family often engaged me to eat outside and try fast food or any food restaurants. But the fav food I have ever eaten throughout the Christmas and new year holidays are Curry Chicken Katsu in Kimukatsu's restaurants.

Submitted by albastrea on Tue, 03/01/2023 - 18:41

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In Romania, almost everyone makes Beef Salad (Salata de boeuf). Despite the name, it is usually with chicken or pork. And every year it is the same debate: with or without green peas. I prefer it with green peas.

Submitted by edanur06 on Tue, 27/12/2022 - 18:53

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Hi, İ'm from Turkey but İ'm human lol. Unfortunately Christmas is not our custom though in Christmas time most of municipalities decorate the city. Beside İ love Christmas soul and making some Christmas foods vegan is my hobby. For example if mashed carrot, and coconut oil or vegan butter using instead of the original ingredients for the gingerbread, it work very well. İ suggest :)

Hi @edanur06,

I love the sound of your gingerbread with mashed carrot and coconut oil! Do you have a picture of it at all? We often make Christmas cake which is decorated with icing sugar. And also I love 'stuffed dates'  - dates with marzipan in the middle! Here's a picture of my mum's cake this year. It's delish!

~Tina ツ
LearnEnglish team

Submitted by eglalyousof on Sat, 24/12/2022 - 16:59

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In our home we meak meat and juice and we shearing food from other family membrane as pizza and others

Submitted by RoseFlower on Fri, 23/12/2022 - 18:25

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In Pakistan, the Eid festival is also known as "Sweet Eid." There is something sweet to eat in every house, such as custard, kheer, and vermicelli. In addition to sweets, there is also a dish called Biryani cooked in almost every house. Biryani is a rice and meat dish cooked with a spicy masala.

Hi @RoseFlower,

Do you have a good recipe for Biryani? I'd love to try and make it! 

~ Tina ツ
LearnEnglish team

Submitted by Yesicalmp on Wed, 21/12/2022 - 01:28

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We like roasted turkey, roasted pork, baked ham, mashed potatoes or potato salad, roasted vegetables, apple salad and wine

That sounds quite similar to our Christmas dinner @Yesicalmp! Do you have any sort of dessert? We have the traditional Christmas pudding, but we also 'cater' for my kids who don't like it and will also make a massive chocolate brownie for them! 
~ Tina ツ
LearnEnglish team

Submitted by samarareis on Tue, 20/12/2022 - 22:18

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Here in Brasil, people usually eat in Christmas night Turkey, salad potatoes e farofa (this food have in few countries).

Hi @samarareis,

I remember 'farofa' from when I lived in Brazil many years ago. It's really hard to translate, isn't it? Toasted flour? Here's a recipe I found, in case anyone wants to check out what it is. 
Best wishes, Jo

LearnEnglish team

 

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Submitted by Styankee on Tue, 20/12/2022 - 21:25

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I'm from Ukraine and we usually start our Christmas feast with special porridge, named "KUT'YA". It's sweet porridge with grain, sugar or honey, spices and a lot of dried fruits. And tradition Christmas table consists of 12 dishes. It's very family holiday, when all big family gathering at the one table.

Hi @Styankee

Kut'ya sounds really delicious. I'd love to try it.

Best wishes, Jo
LearnEnglish team

Submitted by ivantabora01 on Tue, 20/12/2022 - 17:13

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My favorites food on xmas are:

Turkey
Tamales
Torrejas

tamales and torejas are traditional food in Honduras (the country that I live), those foods are very delicious, you can find this meal the all year but in xmas time are more popular.

Submitted by Adane Getachew on Tue, 20/12/2022 - 16:46

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We eat the same holiday foods in Christmas, nothing especial. Our especial holiday regarding food is the finding of the True Cross. Especially the southern part of Ethiopia is known for such unique foods.

Hi @Adane,

What sort of food do you like to eat during this celebration? And do you get together with family and friends during this period?


~ Tina ツ
LearnEnglish team

Submitted by Nainher on Tue, 20/12/2022 - 02:35

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Hi!
I'm from Honduras and some of our typicals food for the christmas season are the Nacatamal, torrejas, pollo al horno, pierna al horno.
All of them are delicious and only prepares for the Christmas.

Hello, I am from Honduras too and the foods that you mentioned are very delicious.

It is great share with another Honduras person.

Submitted by shimoo86 on Mon, 19/12/2022 - 19:45

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At Egypt we celebrate with another festive and the main dishes is fata it compose of rice , bread and spicy tomato sauce . Also there are meat.

Submitted by mdstamataki on Mon, 19/12/2022 - 19:34

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stuffed Turkey, melomakarona, kourabiedes, diples

Submitted by Kstonem on Mon, 19/12/2022 - 15:12

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In my family, we don't have a "traditional" Christmas dinner. Mainly because I'm vegan, but also because I'm the one who's cooking the dishes . Therefore, for appetizer I make French toast or toast with tomato purée, for the main dishes we have a lot of candied and roasted vegetables, roasted lentil steak and different kind of salad, finally, for the dessert we have a traditional yule log made with butternut squash .

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Submitted by Kirk Moore on Mon, 19/12/2022 - 08:29

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This isn't what we typically eat on Christmas day, but this time of year we make gingerbread houses and cookies. I find them a bit too sweet with all the candy, but my kids love making these.

Submitted by Carna on Sat, 17/12/2022 - 21:34

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In Côte d'Ivoire, Christmas season is marked by roast foods. The main meal is roast chicken with fried potatoes. another common meal is ''Attieke", a local food made of a side dish from cassava. It is eaten with grilled chicken.

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Submitted by guillermot on Sat, 17/12/2022 - 13:58

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In Argentina we usually eat roast meats or prepare cold dishes such as vitel tone, salads, tongue vinaigrette, etc.
For dessert, fruit salads, ice cream and the after-dinner meal accompanies the champagne with sweet bread, nougat, pudding, etc.

Submitted by tetyanan2006 on Sat, 17/12/2022 - 09:27

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For Christmas lunch we would have for starters: prawns cocktail, for main course: rousted meat of chicken, beef, lamb and vegetables, sausages in blankets, Yorkshire puddings, staffing and sick gravy. For dessert: Christmas pudding with brandy cream

Submitted by joarroyoru on Fri, 16/12/2022 - 23:28

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We don't have the usually dinner that traditional day. In Christmas, we have some cocktail before have dinner provided by seafood as grilled lobster and prawns, coat squids and boiled mussels with spicy tomato sauce. As a main course, we have Mediterranean style monkfish and washed down with an sparking white Mediterranean wine.
As a dessert, we usually have strawberries covered in melted 75% cocoa chocolate.

That really does sound good @joarroyoru! Who does all the preparation and cooking for it? You? ツ

~ Tina
LearnEnglish team