Christmas Dinner; a traditional Christmas meal which in many parts of the world is an important event in the festive celebrations. But it may surprise you to know that the Christmas meal varies in almost every country around the world.

Just as we have our own meat delicacies such as Roast Turkey and ‘Pigs in Blankets’; the rest of the world has some interesting traditions and specialities that use different meats. For that reason, we thought we’d look at all the Christmas cuts of meats eaten around the world at Christmas.

In the UK, we like to sit down and have a turkey as the main meat for our meal. Some of us also like to have a ham or roast beef joint which goes well with the prize turkey. Teamed with Cranberry sauce, along with other vegetable sidekicks such as carrots, roast potatoes, and (rather contentiously) brussel sprouts.

On average, the UK gobbles up 10 million turkeys each year. So that just goes to show how much we love having a turkey for Christmas.

The popularity of turkey for Christmas dinner originates from the 16th century when Turkeys first reached our shores from America. Turkey replaced chicken and cows meat that was originally used, as these animals produced milk and eggs instead.

Christmas turkey became more popular in the 1950s when it became more affordable for families to get a turkey for Christmas. It is now the number 1 Christmas meat in the UK.

But what about other countries? What is their meat of choice for their festive meals?

America – Ham & Roast Beef

The festive season across the pond follows their Thanksgiving celebrations, which is usually where a turkey is crowned the meat of the meal. This means that when Christmas comes around, the meat is instead substituted for roast beef and roasted ham. For American households, the trimmings around the plate are all very similar to ours in the UK. One thing they apparently don’t have is Christmas Crackers!

Japan – Chicken

Thanks to an incredibly successful marketing campaign in the 1970s, KFC has it’s busiest time of year in Japan. This is because they created an ad called ‘Kentucky for Christmas’. Families order food from the fast-food chain weeks in advance so that they can get their fried chicken on Christmas day.

Germany – Duck, Goose or Rabbit

In Germany, the traditional Christmas dinner involves duck, goose, and rabbit. To go alongside this game, there are sides of potato and red cabbage dumplings.

Australia – Barbecue

Unlike the cold weather we get in the UK at Christmas, Australia and New Zealand enjoy their Christmas meal within the hottest time of the year. That means that a regular sight in these countries is a BBQ Christmas dinner. These meals usually feature steak, sausages, chicken skewers, and much more summery foods that the UK enjoys during their summertime.

Norway – Roast Pork

The Norwegians sit down for their Christmas dinner on Christmas Eve and sit down to roast pork served with ‘Sauerkraut’ – a finely cut raw cabbage. Extremely fancy dinners in Norway also include steamed sheep’s head, in a dish called ‘Smalahove‘.

We hope wherever you are, you’ll be sitting down to a lovely Christmas meal. If you’re in Sussex, maybe the meat will have been supplied by us!