The Importance and Art of the Christmas Dinner
Cooking Class Singapore wishes everyone a Merry X’mas!
Every December 25th, millions of people around the world return home to their family, sit down around the table, and celebrate the holiday of Christmas with a big feast.
For many, this is the most important day of the entire year as it symbolizes important moments and figures within their faith and it is connected with cherished memories of their family.
Christmas is celebrated to mark the birth of Jesus Christ, although historians mostly agree that his birth did not actually occur on December 25th.
Christians who were working on converting pagans selected the actual date in the 4th century CE.
The pagan holiday of Saturnalia was celebrated during the same time and part of their efforts at converting the pagans to Christianity was to have a holiday to celebrate at the same time of year.
Thus, Christmas was set for December 25th.
In its earliest incarnations, Christmas was celebrated quite similarly to Saturnalia.
This included drinking, wild parties, and even singing naked in the streets.
As time went on and more converts were won, the practices toned down.
The drinking was scaled back, wild parties became family dinners, and naked singing was traded in for what we now know as caroling.
In modern times, the central feature of this celebration is the Christmas dinner.
In some countries, it is so ingrained in the culture that even non-Christians will take part.
Within each culture, there are different traditions that surround the dinner from gift giving to special dishes to certain rituals.
While the image that most of us have of a Christmas dinner tends to come from American television and movies, their version is hardly the only one that is valid.
Below are some examples of traditional Christmas meals throughout the world.
Christmas Dinner in the United States
For most, the celebration of Christmas begins in the morning on December 25th at home.
This is when the family gets up and gathers around the Christmas tree to open presents.
In families where the children are still young, these presents will often be marked as being from Santa Claus.
In families with older children or only adults, each person will have a gift under the tree for each other person, passing them to the recipient and opening them together.
Once the gifts have been opened, preparations for the dinner will begin while the children play with their new toys.
What dishes are likely to be prepared?
While turkey is eaten at Christmas in the United States, it isn’t as popular as it is in other English speaking countries.
This is most likely due to the fact that turkey is the central food item for
Thanksgiving, which is celebrated only a month before Christmas.
As a result, many families opt to serve ham instead.
With or without turkey, stuffing is usually served as a side dish. Also standard are mashed potatoes, gravy, macaroni and cheese.
When it comes to dessert, pumpkin and sweet potato pies are common, though any variety of pie will certainly do.
And leftovers are usually taken home and then prepared in various fashions over the following days.
Christmas Dinner in the Philippines
In the Philippines, Christmas is celebrated on Christmas Eve.
This is attributed to the Spanish influence on the nation.
Dinner takes place late in the evening, accommodating the traditional mass.
The central food item is hamón which is a cured pork leg seasoned with regional spices.
Accompanying the ham, you will generally find queso de bola, a ball of edam cheese, as well as pasta dishes and fruit salads.
And as this dinner takes place close to midnight, hot chocolate is often drunk for warmth and energy.
Christmas Dinner in Germany
In Germany, Christmas dinner takes place on Christmas Day, though there is usually a smaller dinner held on Christmas Eve.
The smaller feast centres around traditional German foods, such as sausages, and generally only includes immediate family.
The dinner on Christmas Day expands to include the extended family and friends.
The main dish is usually one of three items: suckling pig, roast goose, or roast carp. Larger families might even have one of each.
Side dishes will include a potato dish, as well as kale and brussel sprouts.
Dessert will include marzipan and various bread.
Cooking the Perfect Christmas Dinner
No matter the culture, cooking the perfect Christmas dinner is vital and a big responsibility for the host.
Cooking Class Singapore offers a wide variety of hands-on classes with many choices of cuisines from around the world.
During this Christmas, special festive cooking and baking classes are designed to help get you ready for the big day.
Check out the classes today!