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Traditional Spanish Christmas meals: food & menu ideas
BEST TRADITIONAL SPANISH CHRISTMAS RECIPES
If you are here, it can be mainly for two reasons. One is that you’ll be in Spain for Christmas and want to know what are the important Spanish Christmas meals to plan ahead. And two, you are planning a Spanish-themed Christmas meal and need traditional Spanish Christmas food ideas. But in both cases, you are on the right spot! In today’s post we’ll be first discussing what dates you need to consider – you might be surprised to hear that there’s more family Christmas meals in Spain than at home! We’ll also tell you what kind of food is traditionally eaten each day. Then we’ll proceed to give you Christmas dinner and lunch ideas so you can replicate a Spanish Christmas meal at home. Are you ready?
All the traditional Christmas meals in Spain to take into account:
If you’ll be visiting Spain in Christmas, you want to be informed of what are the special meals locals celebrate. Nowadays a lot of families prefer to eat out to spare the work of cooking and cleaning, and they make their reservations way in advance. Plus it’s not unusual either that restaurants take the day off instead, so their staff can enjoy the holidays with the family. So all this makes it more difficult for you to find a table when you need to eat. And there’s nothing more stressful than not finding a place to eat when you are hungry! So these are the Christmas meals to take into account:
- Christmas Eve dinner, the evening of December 24. Most Spaniards celebrate Christmas Eve (although it’s true that for some regions such as Catalonia, the big day is December 25). Locals prepare a large selection of cold and warm appetizers, followed by some soup, and a main course that is usually baked fish or seafood.
- Christmas Day lunch, December 25. While it’s not a widely celebrated family meal, in areas such as Catalonia this is the biggest Christmas meal. After the compulsory selection of appetizers, Catalans eat Escudella soup with galets pasta, and then Carn d’Olla, the rich leftovers of the veggies and meats used to make the soup. Some families will then continue with some stuffed poultry – my family stopped doing that year after year we were too full to eat it.
- San Esteve (Boxing Day) lunch, December 26. Saint Steven’s day is only celebrated in Catalonia and the Balearic Islands, so it doesn’t apply if you won’t be visiting Barcelona or Mallorca. Again, there’s platters of appetizers, that may include also a salad for starter. Then the main course are canneloni – which used to be made with the leftovers of the Christmas lunch meal, but nowadays are done days ahead and frozen or are purchased ready-made.
- New Year’s Eve dinner, the evening of December 31. Locals usually eat at home, with family or friends, getting ready to watch the countdown on TV or head to a local plaza to hear the bells life. That’s why dinner needs to be easy and not take hours to be eaten. Appetizers and finger food are again part of the menu, which usually continues with seafood or baked fish (if the guests aren’t too full from the recent family meals already!). BTW, we have a post about Barcelona restaurants for New Year’s Eve, in case it helps!
- New Year’s Day lunch. Not everyone celebrates this one, because honestly, it’s been so many other meals already by then! But still there’s families who do meet, usually on a small committee, not the extended family. But then…Who wants to cook after a long night out? Many people eat out, what means restaurants are packed (and some may be closed either for lunch or dinner, so plan ahead).
- 3 Kings lunch, January 6. You didn’t expect this one? January 6 in Spain is a huge kid’s day: the Three Wise Men bring them presents! Families gather together to celebrate, so consider it as difficult as the other family lunch days. More appetizers, soup or salad, fish or meat, and then the Roscon de Reyes for dessert!
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