Holiday Foods: 18 Traditional Dishes From Around the World

The holiday season is a time for family, fun, and food. Traditional holiday dishes from around the world include latkes, pepperpot, lefse, and others.

The holiday season is a time for family, fun, and — of course — food. Just like families across the globe, you’ve likely got a list of recipes that are important for your holiday traditions. This year, though, why not try out a few new holiday foods to shake up your family’s routine? You can learn about new cultures, reconnect with your own, and explore some of the international tastes that are popular at this time of year.    

Instead of re-writing your entire holiday menu, try selecting a side dish that will complement your normal dishes. Examples of international holiday appetizers and side dishes include: 

• Tangyuan: This Chinese dish is popular for holidays like the Winter Solstice festival and the Lantern festival. It consists of small rice balls that are filled with either sweet or savory ingredients and served in a broth.
• Jansson’s temptation: This baked Swedish side dish is a popular Christmas casserole that’s made using potatoes, onions, anchovies, and cream.  
• Latkes: These are popular Hanukkah treats that are made by frying shredded potatoes in olive oil. You can create a healthy variation on this dish by adding red lentils into the mix.
• Kutia: This is an essential Christmas Eve dish in Ukraine. It has a porridge-like consistency and is made from grains, fish, and mushrooms. 

These diverse dishes could be fun substitutes for sweet potatoes or stuffing — two common American holiday sides. 

Instead of having turkey or ham yet again this holiday season, consider using another animal protein in your main dish, or even go for a vegetarian entree. Examples of international holiday entrees include: 

• Lutefisk: This Scandinavian dish is also quite popular in the American Midwest. It’s made by soaking dried cod — or another whitefish — in lye for days to create a gelatinous texture.   
• Hallacas: This Venezualen dish is similar to a tamale. Wrap cornmeal in banana leaves while you cook it to create hallacas. The ingredients that are included with the cornmeal vary between regions and family recipes. Try adding the meats and vegetables that you most love to this soft, savory dish.     
• Braai: This South African tradition is comparable to summer BBQing in the U.S. It’s often served on the South African holiday called Heritage day, which takes place in September. To make it, you can grill large cuts of any meat of your choice over an open wood fire. The presence of friends and family while you cook is a must. If you live somewhere in the U.S. that’s warm enough for a winter fire, braai is a fun alternative to being stuck in the kitchen during the holidays.  
• Duk-guk: This dish is a staple of Korea’s Lunar New Year. It’s a soup that’s made by boiling slices of a rice cake — called garae-tteok — in broth. 
• Pepperpot: This is the first dish served on Christmas day in the South American country Guyana, and it takes weeks to properly prepare. Pepperpot is a stew that’s made from the toughest parts of beef, along with cinnamon and cloves. You cook it on and off for days and let it sit at room temperature on your stove in between cooking sessions. 
• Rellenong manok: This Filipino dish is usually served on Christmas Eve. It’s made by stuffing a deboned chicken with a variety of ingredients — including pork, cheese, raisins, pinenuts, and olives. Put your own twist on this dish by stuffing it with your favorite ingredients. 
• Tourtiere: This Canadian dish is popular after Midnight Mass. It’s a meat pie that’s made with anything from ground pork to salmon.  

The holidays are the perfect time to include a few more sweets in your diet. This year, try experimenting with sweets from a different part of the globe. Examples of international holiday desserts include:  

• Lefse: these are kind of like Norwegian tortillas that are made from mashed potatoes, fat, and flour, then rolled in butter and sugar or lingonberry jam. They’re a unique, memorable comfort food for the holiday season. 
• Cuccidati: These cookies are essentially homemade Italian fig newtons. They’re commonly served at Christmas time but are delicious treats all year round. 
• Mince pie: versions of these sweet pies have been made in England for hundreds of years — especially around Christmas. They contain mincemeat, which is typically a combination of chopped nuts, dried fruits, and spices like cinnamon, cloves, and nutmeg. Some pies even include actual ground meat.  
• Mithai: These sweets are popular choices for Indian holidays like Diwali — the Festival of Lights. Mithai come in many shapes and sizes but tend to include the same basic ingredients of sugar, flour, and dairy. They’re usually seasoned with cardamom, rosewater, or saffron and may include fruits and nuts. 
• Coal candy: This popular Italian candy is most commonly made at the end of Christmas celebrations for the Feast of the Epiphany. Coal candy is an aerated sweet that’s made from sugar, eggs, and food coloring. It’s meant to resemble coal. 
• Mooncakes: These tasty pastries are most often eaten during China’s Mid-Autumn Festival. They’re dense cakes that are filled with a variety of sweet pastes, such as red bean paste.  
• Grapes: People in Spain have a fun New Year’s Eve tradition that involves grapes. To try it out, eat 12 grapes at midnight for good luck in the new year — that’s one grape for each chime of the clock and month of the year. Remember to prep your grapes ahead of time, though, or you’ll find yourself scrambling for supplies during the countdown. 

Regardless of the dishes that you choose, there are a few handy tips that you should keep in mind when planning any holiday meal. For example: 

• If you have family coming in from outside of the country or are trying to import foods, remember that certain items won’t make it past U.S. customs — this includes most fruit, some mooncakes, and British pastries made with animal fat.
• Make sure to thoroughly cook all of your dishes. Follow all of the instructions on pre-packaged foods, heat all of your meats to food-safe temperatures, and make sure you understand the ins and outs of new cooking methods
• Store your leftovers promptly in airtight containers — food can go bad if it’s left sitting at room temperature for too long after a big feast.

Experimenting with new foods can make the holidays even more memorable than usual. With any luck, you’ll end up creating an entirely new tradition for your family.