Nary A Turkey In Sight

Celebrate lesser-known festive dishes rooted in culinary traditions from different parts of the world

- Koh Yuen Lin

Popular culture might depict the Christmas table as one with a large bird taking centre stage. Yet, for many around the world, having poultry for the holiday feast is as inconceivable as turning up at a ball in house clothes: it’s just not done.

“The Christmas meal—be it the dinner on the eve or lunch on the day itself—is something people would save up weeks or months for, all in order to buy the best, premium ingredients,” recounts chef de cuisine Mirko Febbrile of one Michelin-starred restaurant Braci. “Seasonal seafood is the order of the day, but never poultry, or what we eat for daily sustenance, for it is not something special for the holiday table.”

Indeed, seasonal seafood features heavily in festive menus from the coastal regions of Spain, Italy and Portugal. Some might attribute such practice to an old Roman Catholic custom of abstaining from meat and dairy products on the eve of Christmas. However, that winter seafood is fattened to its prime for eating is certainly a key factor to consider too.