The holidays are around the corner, meaning there’s a lot to do and lots to eat. Food is one of the best ways to celebrate and spend time with loved ones. From every different culture, there are many different kinds of dishes to make. Traditional Christmas dishes include gingerbread cookies, mashed potatoes, and stuffed turkey.

In Germany, many Germans traditionally eat Weihnachtsgans, the Christmas goose. The dish was originally made tied to St. Martin’s Day but it eventually became one of their traditional Christmas dishes. Depending on where or how you make the dish, it can be made in different ways. It is often stuffed with apples, chestnuts, onions, and prunes, then spiced with mugwort and marjoram. Germans serve the goose alongside red cabbage, dumplings, gravy and sauerkraut. Here’s a recipe for readers to make by Gordon Ramsay.

There are a lot of sweets traditionally made for Christmas, like fruitcake. Fruitcake is more traditional in the US, so it’s more commonly illustrated in holiday movies. At some point in history, fruitcake was a display for prosperity. Dried fruits and nuts were expensive items and so people served this cake at special events—like Christmas—to show off. There are definitely many ways to make fruitcake but there’s the recipe if readers would enjoy trying!

“Trying fruitcake for the first time wasn’t too good but not too bad, “ said Ivy Khuu (‘25), “My family and I don’t traditionally have dishes like Fruitcake since it’s more of an American tradition,” continued Khuu.

Latkes are made to celebrate Hanukkah in Israel. Latkes are traditional fried potato pancakes made for Hanukkah. Since the Middle Ages, latkes have been an important part of Hanukkah tradition. Latkes are fried potato pancakes cooked in oil. This recognizes that the Second Temple kept the Menorah burning with oil for eight days. Other dishes enjoyed as a part of this tradition include fried donuts and fritters. Hanukkah gelt, small chocolate coins, are given to children by relatives. This sounds great, maybe a bite won’t hurt.

There is also pudding made from England, the traditional Christmas Pudding. The dish goes by multiple names, figgy pudding, plum pudding, ‘pud’, or Christmas pudding. This dessert is a key Christmas tradition in England, Ireland and some parts of the US. Despite its name, plum pudding doesn’t actually include plums. ”Plums’’ referred to what we now call raisins, and because dried fruits are an important part of this pudding, it is how it earned its name.

“I’ve actually made Christmas Pudding before since I enjoy cooking and baking, “ said Hodan Abbi (‘24), “I don’t celebrate Christmas but I would definitely make it again and possibly add other ingredients to change it up but I would definitely recommend others to try it or try making it themselves, too.”

Kūčios is held on December 24, Christmas Eve. Kūčios is a traditional Lithuania Christmas dinner that can take possibly up to a week to prepare for. For Lithuanian families, the dinner is to spend time with loved ones so the dinner gives them the opportunity to do so. Originally, Kūčios had 9 dishes but then later expanded to 12. No meat, dairy, or hot food are a part of this meal. Instead, it includes fish, breads, and vegetables. Some of the items you might see on the menu are herring served in a tomato, mushroom or onion based sauce, smoked eel, vegetables such as potatoes, sauerkraut, and mushrooms, bread or cranberry pudding. Give it a try a week before Christmas or even any other day for a challenge.