In Ireland, we usually eat Christmas dinners filled with the usual suspects of roast turkey, glazed ham, and every variety of potato, but have you ever wondered what dinners around the world look like? From Australia, celebrating in the sun, to Japan back-ordering KFC, families are brought together for the season in a variety of ways. Maybe we can add some of these traditions to our 2025 festive feasts.
Austraila
With Christmas falling during the summer time for Australians, Christmas day meals consist of BBQs and picnics at beaches and parks under the hot sun. Seafood heavy, prawns, oysters, and salmon are often paired with lighter foods such as potato salads, hummus, crackers, and cob loaf. Dessert follows the same pattern of remaining light to beat the heat, with pavlova, trifle and ice cream cakes coming out on top.
Italy
In many Italian households, Christmas Eve is marked by the Feast of the Seven Fishes, a tradition rooted in Roman Catholic custom. Families gather to enjoy multiple fish and seafood dishes from salt cod and calamari to clams and mussels. Christmas Day itself switches to roast meats, pasta bakes, and sweet treats like panettone and pandoro.
Japan
While Christmas is not traditionally a religious celebration in Japan, it has become a major cultural event. The most iconic dish? Fried chicken. Thanks to a famous 1970s marketing campaign, families across Japan now pre-order special Christmas buckets from KFC. For dessert, light and fluffy strawberry shortcake symbolises celebration and togetherness.
Mexico
Mexican Christmas feasts are vibrant and deeply rooted in family tradition. Popular dishes include tamales, bacalao, pozole, and stuffed chiles en nogada. On Christmas Eve, families gather for Nochebuena, ending the night with sweet treats such as buñuelos and mugs of spiced hot chocolate.
Poland
Polish families celebrate Wigilia, the Christmas Eve supper, which traditionally begins when the first star appears in the sky. The meal is meat-free and features twelve dishes, symbolising the months of the year. Staples include barszcz with dumplings, carp, herring and poppy-seed cake.
