Christmas ... again it's all about food isn't it? Posted by João on 11:45 pm

Well Christmas is fast approaching and with that, here's our Christmas post with all kinds of interesting facts about Christmas and about Canada and about Portugal and about eating and about doing nothing and about waiting for it all to be over and done with.

So if you're here in Portugal, when the 24th roles around, I'm sure you'll be slapping the good old bacalhau (or cod) on the table for all to enjoy, I'm I right? Or maybe if you're in northern Portugal you might be having polvo (in English that would be octopus) instead. In Portugal, Catholicism is to thank for the tradition of eating bacalhau and polvo, as back in the day the church would particularly not permit meat eating on those days of fasting. Bacalhau was particulary the common mans food, and in most of Portugal the tradition of eating it on Christmas Eve has remained. And so has the way it is served up; the easiest and simplest way possible: boiled and served up with potatos and coves (Portuguese cabbage). Here's what we'll be eating on the 24th:

Of course the next day we're back to good ol'fashion meat: goat, lamb, pork and of course, turkey.

Ok now lets look at Canada. When it comes to Christmas Day, we all know that Turkey is king. When it comes to Christmas Eve, however, there is no specific food typical to that night - there is no Canadian version of bacalhau. So what is a typical Christmas Eve diet in Canada? Well, in my house growing up it was bacalhau just like it was meatballs in Swedish homes or borscht in a Ukrainian home. In other words, Christmas Eve is all about ancestry when it comes to the 24th. The following day, however, for all of Canada, Christmas is synonymous with this:

Tasty butterball with all the trimmings, and that includes the stuffing as well. Of course in Canada you might get regional differences to boot. For example, don't be surprised to find your turkey accompanied with either fresh or smoked salmon if you're out in British Columbia, for example.

And then comes desserts. Well in Portugal we have sonhos, rabanadas, filhós and then there's the bolo rei, the Christmas cake I'm pretty sure the whole world shares; in Canada better known as fruit cake, mind you in Canada they don't look quit the same as they do here in Portugal. Here's the very lively and always colourful Portuguese version to the right.

So now if you're a Canadian here in Portugal missing certain aspects of Canada this Christmas, we offer you these down below to help put a little bit o Canada into you Portuguese Christmas this year. MERRY CHRISTMAS TO ALL!