We invite you to make a magical holiday trip: in a matter of minutes you will visit several countries and appreciate the scale of the New Year's feast in each of them.
Instructions
Step 1
Do you dream of adding variety to the traditional festive menu, but have no idea what exactly to replace or at least supplement with Olivier salad, herring under a fur coat and French-style meat? It is quite possible that the proposed culinary voyage will give you an idea. The spectrum of the world's gastronomic New Year's delights is incredibly wide, and there are more than enough options to satisfy both the meat-eater and vegan. It is also important that most of these festive dishes do not require significant financial and time costs.
Step 2
France
Famous restaurants on New Year's Eve strive to outdo each other: in the sumptuous menu you will see dishes with foie gras, black truffles, asparagus in different intricate variations, oysters, the most expensive cheeses and, of course, champagne. The family festive table of an ordinary Frenchman, of course, looks more modest, but the locals in this case try not to save much, because to celebrate the New Year modestly means to live it the same way. An indispensable participant in the entire New Year's menu at any level in France is a chocolate log (the same Christmas biscuit roll). Decorating it, the hostesses give free rein to imagination, building truly highly artistic compositions from berries, nuts, candied fruits.
Step 3
Italy
In this country, Christmas culinary passions usually subside by the New Year. And nevertheless, it will definitely not be possible to oversleep the last festive feast of the year (in fact, flowing into the first). First, the Italians will launch firecrackers and fireworks until the morning, piously believing that this roar and illumination will scare away evil spirits from their homes, country and the world as a whole. Secondly, no one has canceled the New Year's feast here, and they celebrate it on a well-known scale. Often a party is organized by a joint arrangement: guests and hosts agree on who is responsible for what. On the table there is usually pasta (as always), most often conciglione - "shells" with ricotta, also pizza, baked beans or lentil soup. The New Year's meal ends with a cake - pannetone - ideally home-made, the quality of which is used to judge the culinary skill of the hostess.
Step 4
Poland
Many of the New Year's rituals in this country came from the Middle Ages. But the decorated Christmas tree became an attribute of the holiday only in the 19th century: before that, its place was occupied by a beautifully decorated sheaf of straw, which has a Christmas origin. An extra plate must be present at the New Year's table for an unexpected guest, who must be fed. Moreover, the table this night is simply bursting with treats. According to tradition, 12 dishes should be present on it, including bigos (meat stewed with cabbage), wheat kutia, pampushka, dumplings and even borscht. It is necessary to put herring on the New Year's table: according to the old Polish tradition, each guest at the table eats at least a small piece for good luck to the chimes. An obligatory dish of such a feast is also baked carp - a symbol of family wealth and prosperity.
Step 5
Norway
Little Norwegians on New Year's Eve are not expecting gifts from Santa Claus, but from … a goat! Therefore, in the evening children put dry spikelets of oats in their shoes and boots, and in the morning they are delighted to discover there the long-awaited New Year's gifts. In Norway, goats are held in high esteem: according to legend, King Olaf II saved a wounded goat, cured it and released it. After that, the clever animal brought rare medicinal plants to the savior every night, thus considerably replenishing the list of folk remedies for various diseases. As for the New Year's feast, which usually has a family character, it is not particularly sophisticated. However, the choice of dishes is quite decent: these are delicious spicy cookies, and sausages, and pork ribs, and tender salmon, and certainly slightly salted herring.
Step 6
China
Note that in this country the New Year is celebrated according to the lunar calendar, that is, later than January 1, which we are used to. Moreover, the day of its occurrence changes every year. In 2015, the year of the Blue Goat (or Sheep), the New Year will come to Chinese soil on February 19. Each of the traditional New Year's dishes of this country has a certain meaning: long noodles, which are certainly present on the festive table, symbolize a long prosperous life, chicken - good luck, duck - fidelity.
Some dishes are eaten on New Years because of the similarity of their sound to words meaning, for example, abundance (fish) or a good year (rice cakes). For the next year to be a success, the Chinese will not annoy absolutely non-bloodthirsty Goat or Sheep with meat dishes, but will replace them with a bird or fish. The most coveted treats on the New Year's table will be a variety of vegetable and fruit salads, as well as dairy dishes, cheeses, and a variety of rolls resembling twisted mutton horns.
