Friday Fun: A culinary journey - Christmas edition 🧑‍🍳

[Justyna Gdowik _ Deviniti _]

It is Friday at Atlassian HQ in Sydney, so it is time for a new Friday Fun thread! 😊

As Christmas is getting closer and it is time for family, friends, and of course, delicious food, I couldn't resist the pleasure of talking about traditional Christmas dishes. 🥘

Around the world, people celebrate this season with unique culinary traditions that reflect their local cuisines and customs. 

I live in Poland and even within one country there are a lot of different dishes that are considered “traditional”. Let me start with a short intro to our Christmas celebration and introduce some Polish words.

Polish Christmas Eve: Wigilia

In Poland, Christmas Eve is the most important day of the season, and the traditional Christmas dinner is a meatless feast that begins after the first star appears in the sky. On the table, there are multiple symbolic dishes (traditionally there should be 12 of them), each representing a specific aspect of Polish life and culture.

Let me highlight just a few of them. I chose them because of sentiment. These are also the dishes I serve at my home during Christmas Eve dinner.

• (PL) Barszcz czerwony: A vibrant red borscht soup made with beets, dried mushrooms, and a variety of vegetables. Served with dumplings stuffed with mushrooms - called (PL) uszka
  
• (PL) Karp:  Carp fish, traditionally roasted or fried
  
• (PL) Makowiec: A rich poppy seed cake, typically baked in the shape of a long, rolled roll, covered with icing
  

Have you ever tried any of the Polish Christmas food? Or maybe you are from Poland and have different traditions?

Now it's your turn! Share your country's or family's Christmas culinary traditions. Feel free to include recipes or photos. Let's make this culinary journey a delicious and heartwarming experience for everyone.

Wishing you all a joyous and flavorful Christmas season! 🎄

[Amanda Barber]

Yum! My family is part Polish, so we tend to have Polish sausages with whatever the host decides to make. This year, we'll be having a smoked turkey and all the fixings. Christmas cookies are always part of our traditional food, too!

[Summer Hogan]

Great question @Justyna Gdowik _ Deviniti _! My family is purely American so we do traditional American treats and meals around the holidays. For Christmas dinner, I'm going to at steakhouse to get a delicious steak! I love the holiday treats though: candy canes, gingerbread cookies, lemon bread, assorted chocolates, etc. Happy Holidays everyone! 

[Angelie Stephens]

Really enjoyed reading about reading about Polish Christmas Eve food, @Justyna Gdowik _ Deviniti _ ! Thank you for sharing 😁 I love the look of the makowiec!

My family is British Indian, so for Christmas we have an Indian breakfast and British roast dinner! 

In Kerala, where my family is from, one of the traditional breakfasts is appam and stew. So this is what we have for Christmas morning! Appam is a bit like a pancake, made from fermented rice flour and coconut milk. The stew is made from coconut milk too, and it can be made with meat or vegetables. I don't have any of my own photos, so this is the closest one I could find! 

Hope everyone has a lovely holiday season! ✨

[Laurie Sciutti]

YUM.  My family is Italian but we don't traditionally have any specific cuisine during the Holidays.  Every year is different, which is fun!  I think this year is Beef Wellington, which is an English dish.  Regardless, I'm never disappointed with our holiday meals.  😋

[Dan Breyen]

Well, in the US, part of the commercialization of Christmas was Campbell's Soup Company creating the Green Bean Casserole to sell more soup.  But DANG it's good.  I've found newer receipes to actually make it from scratch using homemade french fried onions and a roux for the cream sauce with fresh mushrooms.