"Must-Buy Foods for Christmas: Stollen and Chicken Fly Off the Shelves [Delicious Stories]"

European Traditional Breads with Dried Fruits and Nuts
B?che de No?l Inspired by Celtic Rituals
Chicken Sells Like Hotcakes in Japan at Christmas

Editor's NoteIt is said that the earliest sweets were discovered in ancient Mesopotamian civilization. Sweets have accompanied humanity at every moment in history. From biscuits to chocolate to ice cream, we bring you delicious stories behind the treats we love.

As the year-end approaches with Christmas, what foods do people around the world enjoy during this season? In Europe, where Christianity is the dominant culture, people gather to share traditional breads and desserts that have been passed down for centuries. In Japan, people enjoy Christmas cakes and chicken, which are launched by retailers competing for year-end sales.

European Traditional Christmas Desserts with Dried Fruits and Nuts

Christmas pudding from the UK (above) and German Stollen. BBC, YouTube capture

In the UK and Germany, there is a tradition of eating breads containing dried fruits and nuts at the end of the year. The quintessential British Christmas food is Christmas pudding. This bread has a long history, having been included in British author Mary Kettilby's 1714 publication, "A Collection of above Three Hundred Receipts in Cookery, Physick and Surgery."

Christmas pudding is a dark bread made by baking a batter of eggs and beef suet. Spices such as cloves, nutmeg, and cinnamon are added for flavor, and dried fruits like prunes are included. The traditional recipe uses suet, which is the fat around the kidneys of cattle. The batter is wrapped in cloth and aged for a long time, which deepens its flavor. For this reason, British people often prepare the batter in November and wait five to six weeks before enjoying the pudding at a year-end dinner.

In Germany, Stollen is eaten around Christmas. Stollen is made by soaking nuts and dried fruits in rum for a year, then baking them into a large loaf. The outside is decorated with a dusting of white powdered sugar. Stollen originally symbolizes the Advent season in Germany, which lasts from the Sunday four weeks before Christmas to Christmas Eve. German children cut and eat a small piece each day as they await Christmas.

In Italy, fermented breads such as Panettone and Pandoro are enjoyed nationwide. In Spain, as Christmas approaches, supermarkets are filled with Turron, a traditional confection made by mixing peanuts or almonds with honey and letting it harden. There is also a custom of eating twelve grapes at midnight on New Year's Eve, one for each chime of the clock, while making wishes.

B?che de No?l: France's Log Cake Inspired by the Yule Log Tradition

B?che de No?l, a Swiss roll cake made to look like a log using chocolate. Saing Onore Boulangerie website

In France, Belgium, and other French-speaking countries, people look for the Christmas roll cake known as B?che de No?l at year-end. B?che de No?l became popular after French baker Pierre Lacam created it in the late 1800s. The cylindrical roll cake is coated with dark chocolate to resemble a log, and is sometimes dusted with white powdered sugar to look like a snow-covered tree.

B?che de No?l pays homage to the "Yule log" tradition of the Celts, one of the ancient European peoples. To endure the harsh winter, Celts would burn a large log called a Yule log. According to the French patisserie Saing Onore Boulangerie, "The tradition of burning the Yule log, wishing for the triumph of light over darkness, evolved into B?che de No?l, which has become a centerpiece of Christmas cuisine in France."

In Japan, Christmas Means Cake and Chicken

Although Japan is not a Christian country and Christmas is not a public holiday, there is a culture of enjoying strawberry shortcake and chicken during this season.

Japanese-style strawberry shortcake, made by topping a white fresh cream sponge cake with strawberries, was first launched by confectionery company Fujiya in 1922 and quickly gained popularity. Fujiya's founder, Rinemon Fujii, tasted shortcake in the United States and adapted it to suit Japanese tastes, creating a fresh cream shortcake. The addition of red strawberries on white cream to emphasize a "Japanese color palette" is said to mark the beginning of the strawberry shortcake tradition in Japan.

In Japan, strawberry shortcake has become so famous that it is known by the proper noun "Kurisumasu Keki (クリスマスケキ)," and KFC fried chicken is treated as a Christmas commemorative food. Food in Japan, KFC

Strawberry shortcake became popular in Japanese households in the 1970s, when refrigerators began to spread. At that time, bread was expensive, so Japanese people would only buy shortcake for special occasions, which led to the perception that strawberry shortcake is a special food for Christmas.

Another food that sells explosively in Japan during Christmas is fried chicken from the American franchise KFC.

KFC opened its first store in Nagoya, Japan in 1970. At first, sales growth was sluggish because Japanese consumers were unfamiliar with chicken. The turning point came with a TV interview by the store manager at the time, Takeshi Okawa. When asked by the anchor, "Do Americans eat chicken at Christmas?" he replied, "Yes." This moment was broadcast and chicken quickly caught the attention of Japanese people. Okawa later admitted in a media interview, "Actually, it was turkey, not chicken, but I lied on purpose."