Christmas dishes around the world

22.12.2016 – Sri Lanka, Afghanistan, Ghana and Ukraine ... GIZ employees living and working around the world report on traditional Christmas dishes.

At Christmas, the Germans love to eat goose or carp, soft, spicy cookies known as ‘Lebkuchen’, and chocolate figures of Father Christmas. But what about people in other parts of the world?

Our employees work in more than 130 countries around the globe, and some of them have shared with us what people in those countries eat at this time of the year.

In Ghana, for example, cashew nuts are an essential ingredient in many Christmas dishes, from delicious coconut, cashew and banana bread to a hearty fish and spinach stew, where the creamy cashews are the perfect partner for the spinach. Cashews also feature in Christmas cuisine in Sri Lanka, where the traditional Christmas cake recipe features 250 g of cashews and more than 20 other ingredients, including such seasonal staples as cinnamon and vanilla and almond essence. Not quite sweet enough for you? Then try the ‘sheer peera’ that people in Afghanistan enjoy: it’s a fudge made from milk, toasted walnuts or almonds, and rosewater.

And if your mouth is already watering, here are the recipes. We wish you all the best for the festive season and hope you enjoy your culinary journey around the world!


Christmas recipes: links & downloads