Xmas Traditions: Food Glorious Food

Monday, December 19, 2011

Food from the mundane to the unsual plays an important role in festivities across the world. Sit down for Xmas dinner in Norway and you may smell the aroma of old blue cheese. What you are actually getting a whiff of is Kiviak, a delicacy made from the raw meat of an auk in an advanced state of decomposition after the bird meat has been buried under a stone encased in a sealskin for a few months.

Belgians serve cougnou, also called bread of Jesus. A sweetbread molded in the form of baby Jesus, it is given to children on Xmas along with a cup of hot chocolate.

In Slovakia not all food ends up being eaten. Slopping the ceiling is a tradition at Xmas Eve dinner. The head of the family takes a spoon of Loksa (a dish made out of bread, poppy seed filling and water) and throws it up at the ceiling. The more mixture that remains glued on the ceiling the richer his/her crops will be the following year. 
















Want your wish to come true? Then in Great Britain you would stir your Christmas pudding clockwise.

Expect a few surprise guests in Portugal where 'consoda' is a special feast served on Xmas morning. The table is set with extra seats for the souls of the dead and food is offered in the hopes the souls will bring the family good luck. 

In Japan come Christmas day fried chicken is the food of choice and lines form around Kentucky Fried Chicken. However, McDonald's is offering chicken specials . Hold the pickles...speaking of pickles...

:) Carol