As you slowly lose your sense of time commuting between the library and the dorm, and the drabness of exam season is broken only by festive lights, it’s worth pausing for a moment. While stuffed cabbage and bejgli (traditional Hungarian pastry roll) are the go-to combo for Christmas here in Hungary, quite extreme things end up on the table in other parts of the world — ranging from barbecuing in 30-degree heat to linguistically based gift-giving.
Celebrating Christmas is largely universal, as we know, but its execution is strictly local. Gastronomy acts as the most honest mirror: it reveals history, climate, and just how inventive people can be when it comes to celebrating. If you’re already fed up with the cafeteria selection and frozen pizzas, join us for a virtual gastro tour to see what your peers are feasting on in Africa, South America, the Caucasus, or the Far East. Warning: read on an empty stomach at your own risk!
South Africa: Barbecue on the Beach, or the Sanctity of the Braai
Let’s start where Christmas isn’t about snow and shivering. In South Africa, summer is at its height in December; it’s 30 degrees, plants are in bloom, so curling up by the fireplace is completely out of the question.
The alpha and omega of the South African Christmas is the braai. And don’t you dare call it simple grilling in front of a local, because they’ll be offended. The braai is a social event, a ritual that starts with building the fire and lasts for hours. At Christmas, alongside lamb chops and boerewors (traditional spicy sausage), marinated turkey or gammon (glazed ham) often lands on the grill.
But the most interesting item is the dessert: malva pudding. This isn’t a light summer fruit salad but a rich, sponge-like cake made with apricot jam, served piping hot and drenched in a creamy, buttery sauce. Yes, in 35-degree heat. This is the point where English colonial heritage meets local taste, and the result is a calorie bomb that guarantees an afternoon siesta. Fried caterpillars (mopane worms) are also popular among locals, but at Christmas, they usually swap them out for trifles.
Argentina: The Italian Job and the Mystery of the Cold Veal
We’re hopping across the Atlantic but staying in the Southern Hemisphere. It’s also summer in Argentina right now, and electric fans are often whirring right next to the Christmas tree. The dinner (Nochebuena) starts late in the evening and reaches its climax at midnight, amid fireworks.
The star of the menu is a dish that might seem bizarre to us at first listen (and perhaps even at second): vitel toné.
This was originally an Italian (Piedmontese) recipe brought over by immigrants, but today it’s more Argentine than the tango. The essence: thinly sliced, boiled veal served cold and smothered in a creamy sauce made of tuna, mayonnaise, and capers. Yes, meat with fish and mayonnaise. However strange it sounds, the flavor is allegedly brilliant, and an Argentine Christmas is unimaginable without it. Naturally, it is accompanied by asado (roasted meats) and plenty of sidra (cider). At midnight, families head out to the street to release paper lanterns (globos) into the sky — although this is being restricted in more and more places for fire safety reasons, the atmosphere is still unbeatable.
Azerbaijan: Where Pilaf Is King
Now, let’s steer into culturally more complex waters. Azerbaijan is a Muslim-majority country, so the classic Christmas (celebrating the birth of Jesus) isn’t a state holiday, though Christian communities naturally observe it. However, as a legacy of the Soviet era, most Christmas customs have migrated to New Year’s Eve. There is a decorated tree (yolka) and a gift-bringing grandpa (Şaxta Baba), just focused on December 31.
The main course is almost always plov (pilaf), but not just any kind: it’s Shah plov, the king of pilafs. This is a rice dish baked inside a crispy dough crust (gazmag), packed with dried apricots, chestnuts, raisins, and lamb. When sliced open, it looks like a cake with the steaming filling spilling out.
The other big favorite is levengi: chicken or fish stuffed with ground walnuts, onions, and albukhara (a sour plum paste). Walnuts and pomegranate dominate the flavors — this is the essence of Caucasian cuisine. The table must be groaning under the weight of the food, because the belief is that however you start the New Year (in abundance), that’s how you’ll continue it. Sounds familiar, right?
China: Linguistic Gift-Giving
Finally, let’s head to the Far East. In China, Christmas isn’t an official holiday; for most of the population, it’s a workday. However, among young people — especially in big cities — it has become a huge trend, though not in a religious sense, but rather like a “second Valentine’s Day” or a consumer festivity. The malls glitter, and friends head out for hot pot or karaoke.
There is, however, a very special custom unique to China that’s purely linguistically based (this is my favorite!). On Christmas Eve, it has become fashionable to give each other beautifully wrapped apples.
Why? Because Christmas Eve in Chinese is Ping’an Ye (Peaceful Night), and apple is pingguo. The beginning of the two words sounds similar, so the apple symbolizes peace and safety for the night. But don’t picture the apples you get at the corner grocery store: at this time of year, shops sell apples in ornate boxes, sometimes engraved with patterns or well-wishes (yes, stamped right into the skin), often at extremely high prices. This is the “Peace Apple” (Ping’an guo), a perfect example of how a culture creates a new tradition with the help of language.
Final Thoughts
Whether it’s veal with tuna in Buenos Aires, grilling in Cape Town, walnut chicken in Baku, or a single apple in Shanghai, the point is the same everywhere: connection. In the middle of exam season, when coffee is your only fuel, don’t forget that food and the holidays aren’t just about calories — they’re about stories.
So, when you look at your traditional Christmas cuisine, just remember: it could be worse — you could be eating fermented seal (though that’s Greenland, but that’s a whole other story).
