Wandering around a Christkindle market (a German Christmas market) here in Chicago got me thinking about Christmas traditions around the world. Specifically, what do they put on the table? We see in the early industrial age of England cooked goose, and figgy pudding. At the Christkindle market I ate a schnitzel sandwich and strudel. At my parents’ house growing up, we always had a Christmas ham and cheesy potatoes. To top off my curiosity, I attended a party last week where Christmas traditions around the world were spotlighted and I learned a lot about other cultures!

A friend from Nepal told everyone how Santa came to his country through beer advertising. Because most of Nepal is Buddhist, the religious aspect of Christmas isn’t there. Christmas is celebrated with presents and alcohol. In Japan the same thing happened, except Christmas was advertised through Kentucky Fried Chicken. So can you guess what they all eat for Christmas dinner? Who would have ever thought that KFC would be such a holiday hit!

In Australia, the religious side is understood, but the weather doesn’t make for a white Christmas like the songs try to tell you. They eat from cold seafood bars for Christmas dinner because it’s the middle of summer. Cold ham and turkey are often served alongside the seafood.

Moving into the Scandinavian countries, roasted meat is on the table. For many, it’s roasted ham, but turkey is common as well. Sweden has my favorite dinner, though, a smorgasbord. They call it a Julbord, and there’s more food on the table than anyone can handle! Including the famous Swedish meatballs. A common tradition across northern Europe is to place an almond in rice pudding and whoever gets the almond gets a prize! Each country calls the dish by a different name, but it is one of the biggest traditions. In Portugal the most common dish is bacalhau, which is codfish. My husband lived there for about 2 years, and as he recalls, there are a thousand ways to prepare it!

In Mexico, they will often serve roast turkey as well, but the farther south you go, the more likely it is you’ll be served tamales. Oddly enough, Russian potato salad is common across many South American countries. Throughout most of the Caribbean, ginger tea is a favorite.

Maybe this holiday season we should all go out and try something new. Make your holiday dinner an event to remember by bringing other Christmas cultures in. A couple of times, my family had a Mexican-themed Christmas dinner where we ate stacked enchiladas and tamales. We had a small ham on the side, to keep with our American tradition—and it also made for a great breakfast of eggs and ham the next morning. Everywhere can be found a melting-pot of people, merging their culture into a new one. Many American traditions come from the original ideas of European ancestors. Now I encourage you to go explore the world through the delight of food. Merry Christmas!