Favourite Christmas Food

For the twelve days of Christmas, I’ll post one list of 5 Christmas-related things each day. This time: 5 of my favourite dishes of Christmas food!

Food, to a large extent, can make or break Christmas – I can, of course, only talk for Belgian traditions, but trust me on this one: it’s incredible. However, even I can’t like everything that is Christmassy (trust me, I’ve tried), so these are the dishes that I think truly have to be eaten on Christmas.

1. Stuffed Turkey

Of course I’m beginning with this one – in the USA, stuffed turkey seems to be irreplaceably linked to Thanksgiving, but in Belgium it’s Christmas that gets that honour. You can really prepare this a bunch of different ways, but unless there’s turkey, it just doesn’t feel like Christmas!

Photo Credit: Nigella Lawson

2. Christmas Log

Now, desert is an important part of any meal, but on Christmas, it has to be just that bit more delicious – queue the deliciousness that is Christmas log / Buche de Noël / Kerststronk: basically a mixture of cake, ice cream and ordinary whipped cream, it’s absolutely decadent, and as such: perfect for Christmas!

3. Appetisers

One of the most fun things about Christmas is just sitting together with your family, and just eating and talking together. Appetisers, more than any other course are excellent for this: they’re a whole range of delicious little bites (if you’re lucky, they’re really a whoooooooooooooooole range) and as such, they lend themselves excellently to talking and catching up. Also, did I mention that usually there’s a whole lot of them? 🙂

Photo Credit: kiltedchristmastree

4. Sides

Believe it or not, I’m actually more of a vegetable-girl than I am a meat- or fish-lover (even though I do like meat and love fish). As such, one of the things I always look forward to the most are the veggies – just as with the appetisers, there’s a reason for that: there tends to be a whole lot of choice (salad! tomato! beans! pumpkin! chicory! mushrooms! all the yummyness!) and because most people are usually too focused on the turkey, that just means I get to eat more of those delicious sides!

5. Potatoes

Last but certainly not least (if you don’t believe me: I have a whole post dedicated to the deliciousness that is potatoes here): what might just be my favourite Christmas food: the potatoes. My dad tends to get really creative here: smiley faces, pine cones, little balls, just ordinary croquettes: potatoes must be had in abundance, and it’s absolutely heavenly!

Photo Credit: Martha Stewart

So there you have it! 5 of my absolute favourite Christmas foods! How about you? Does your family serve any of those I mentioned? Are there any others that have to be on the table in order for it to feel like Christmas? Let me know below!
And be sure to check out yesterday’s post, as well as my other Christmas-posts!

-Saar