Traditional Irish Christmas feastings

Christmas in Ireland is turkey day.

Having grown up in the states where people are only recovering in December from the Thanksgiving turkey feasting, I never associated the two things. Here in Ireland, however, Christmas is all about the turkey. Now there are, of course, alternatives. Most commonly, turkey is not served alone, it is accompanied with ham. Turkey and ham on a plate is definitely Christmas dinner in Ireland.

Goose is a popular alternative to the turkey/ham combination. Duck also happens, from time to time (the last two Christmases we actually had duck for our Christmas dinner).

Another staple of the Irish Christmas palate is the mince pie. Accustomed to the Irish referring to ground beef as “mince”, we were a bit put off by an idea of little meat pies on the occasion of our first Irish Christmas. As it turns out, the mince in this particular is a sweet blend of fruit and spices and contains no animal by-products, meat or otherwise. The Irish Christmas mince pie is about the size of a cupcake and can be found for sale in every shop in its various blends of fruit.

Let’s not forget the Irish Christmas pudding!

So, whatever you’re eating in Ireland or elsewhere, I’d like to wish you a very happy Christmas from Ireland Logue.

Nollaig shona duit!