21 Days til’ Christmas Countdown:
Most families that celebrate Christmas have their traditional Christmas dinner each year. We know Uncle Pete is bringing the baked ham, Mom is bringing the casserole, Grandma is making the creamy mushroom soup, aunt Susie is bringing her famous snickerdoodle cookies for dessert and you’ll be making whatever delicious dish you make every year. We look forward to these dishes every year and there is no reason they can’t still be a part of the menu, but a great way to add variety to the meal and explore making and eating different foods from around the world is through a little game called Multicultural Christmas. It’s really quite simple.
Multicultural Christmas Game: On individual folded pieces of paper write the name of a different country specifically of countries whose cuisine sparks your curious taste buds. Next, add the folded paper to a basket, bowl or hat and have each family member pick one out. Once every one has chosen, each person can read aloud the country they selected or you guys can choose to keep it a secret until Christmas dinner. Whichever country you won, make one or two dishes indigenous to that particular culture or region.
For example, my family and I did this last year for Thanksgiving, we did things a littler differently because we chose one country / region and then we each made different dishes pertaining to only that one place. The winner drawn from the basket was Andean Cuisine. I made ceviche, my mother made flan and my sister and her husband made an array of dishes from Ecuador, Peru and Bolivia.
This activity is a fun way to explore other cultures, to expand your cooking and baking abilities and shakes up the same old cuisine every year for the holidays!
