Festive Foods Around the World
Let’s face it, festive foods are just the best, and a staple in most people’s (definitely ours) December diets! Here at Gastaldi HQ, not a day goes by in December without someone bringing in a festive treat to have with your morning coffee. Seen as we’re well and truly in the Christmas spirit, we decided to take a look at some of the different culinary traditions from across the globe.
The German Christmas feast is historically centred around the Weihnachtsgans, the Christmas goose.
In Northern Italy, sweet foods play an important role during the festive season, one of the most popular being the Panettone.
In Costa Rica, it’s all about making Tamales. The base of the Tamale is a corn dough wrapped in a banana leaf, and for the filling, every family has their own ‘secret recipe’.
Christmas Pudding is a key tradition in the UK. Primarily made of suet, egg, molasses, spices and dried fruits, this popular dessert is set on fire with brandy before serving. Traditionally a silver six-pence was put in the pudding, bringing luck to the person who found it.
In France, la Bûche deNoël, symbolically represents the Yule Log, a wood log that was carried into the home, sprinkled with wine and burned on Christmas Eve.
In Japan, around 3.6 million families eat…wait for it…Kentucky Fried Chicken on Christmas Eve! The tradition, dating back to the 1970s, was born out of nothing more than a genius marketing campaign by KFC!
So there you have it, a few different traditions from around the world…the question is, which one are you going to try? We don’t know about you but all this tasty talk is making us hungry, looks like it’s Christmas snack time again…
