For all who prefer to experience the Mediterranean through their tastebuds, celebrating Christmas in the region with seasonal culinary traditions offers an authentic European experience. Of course, far better to be exploring the Mediterranean itself during the festive season (and our year-round voyages allow you to do just that). There, between visiting Christmas markets and indulging in long, lazy lunches ashore, you can definitely go immersive. Onboard menus, too, reflect the Mediterranean and Christmas Eve essences of Italy’s seafood focus, France’s meat inclination and Spain’s tapas.
But even if you’re not heading out to the Mediterranean this season, you can still recreate the flavors, particularly of Spain, Italy and France, from this most joyful time of year.
Here’s what we love about the Christmas dishes of the Mediterranean.
Italy
Traditions: There’s no one holiday tradition in Italy, particularly when it comes to cuisine (20 different regions celebrate in, well, 20 different styles). Christmas Eve and Christmas Day are exuberantly honored; the former is called La Virgilia, and typically involves fish (Italian-Americans call it the Feast of the Seven Fishes). This habit is based on an old Roman Catholic tradition in which worshippers would abstain from eating meats on the day before a holy day.
Christmas Food: On La Virgilia, seafood reigns supreme but which seafood varies by region. Among the options: salted cod, known as baccalà, along with calamari, salmon, tuna and swordfish. Acclaimed Italian chef Lidia Bastianich swears by striped bass with tomato pesto and clams oreganata. Christmas Day lunch is more likely to include meat and baked pasta dishes. The celebration starts with antipasti — artichokes, salami, local cheeses and olives. The first course is stuffed or baked pasta; the second is a meat course, such as ballito misto (boiled meats like chicken, beef, veal, some sliced salami and even a pâté). Roast lamb is also popular for Christmas lunch.
For sweets? While these traditional desserts also vary, expect panettone, cannoli and biscotti to be among the options.
Christmas Market Noshing: Vin bruléis the Italian version of warm spiced wine. And we love cioccolata calda, which is a rich hot chocolate. Sweet treats you’ll find include panettone, a sweet bread loaf filled with candied fruits; struffoli (fried dough balls drizzled with honey); and pizzelles (delicate waffle sugar cookies).
France
Traditions: Le réveillon de Noël is celebrated on Christmas Eve, typically before or after late night Mass, and is the splashiest meal of the year in France.
Christmas Food: The cuisine served on Le réveillon de Noël varies across France, but popular dishes include oysters, roast goose, escargot, foie gras, gratin dauphinois (an extremely delicious take on scalloped potatoes using Gruyère cheese). And then you have the regional variations; in Alsace, for instance, which shares German influences, choucroute garnie is a traditional dish of sausages, meats and sauerkraut. In Normandy, apple-based tarts are a preferred sweet. In Provence, look for les treize desserts (a collection of 13 different desserts honoring Jesus and his 12 disciples).
Almost everywhere, bûche de Noël, a log cake made with genoise sponge, and topped with chocolate buttercream, is on the dessert menu.
We’re always curious about how notable chefs celebrate the holiday meal, so we checked in with Michelin-starred, third-generation chef Anne-Sophie Pic. The chef, who runs restaurants in France (Paris, Valence) and abroad (Lausanne, London, Dubai and Hong Kong), marries French and family traditions, cooking dishes such as a classic gratin dauphinois and, for dessert, bûche de Noël. She makes her grandfather’s crayfish gratin and her father’s Le Bar Caviar, sea bass that she updates using ingredients such as sake, caviar and rose petals.
Christmas Market Noshing: In addition to oysters and Champagne, you can also expect chestnuts, artisan chocolates, and, because it is France, crêpes. Provencal nougat famously comes in a variety of flavors and is laced with almonds or fruit.
Spain
Traditions: In Spain, Christmas Eve is the night of the big celebration but it’s by no means the only time for a celebration. On New Year’s Eve, consuming “the 12 most festive grapes of the year,” is a tradition that bodes well for good luck in the new year; you eat one grape for each chime of the clock that leads into 2025 (the chimes are actually covered live on television). Children receive their gifts on the night of the Epiphany (Jan. 6), which marks the 12th day of Christmas.
Christmas Food: Even on Christmas Eve, the celebratory meal begins with tapas, or small plates of cheeses, seafood, preserves and Iberian ham. The main course, based on the region, features Andalusian stew (chicken and bacon with chickpeas, port and pumpkin), garlic soup, and rotisserie meat, like lamb, stuffed turkey or suckling pig. For dessert, turrón is prized; it’s a nougat made of honey, almonds and egg whites.
At Jaleo, a contemporary Spanish restaurant with locations in Washington, D.C., Chicago, Las Vegas, Disney Springs and Dubai, Spanish-American chef José Andrés has prepared Christmas dishes such as “canelones stuffed with foie gras, pork and chicken and stopped with creamy bechamel sauce, or our tuxleton, a giant Spanish ribeye with confit piquillo peppers.”
Christmas Market Noshing: The Spanish version of nougat is turrón, which could be either soft and fluffy or brittle, depending on the recipe. Because Christmas markets (and fairs in general) are best enjoyed while eating fried dough, pestiños are the Spanish option of that to look for. You’ll likely also see fried or roasted potatoes or sweet potatoes (patatas bravas) sold in paper cones, often along with roasted chestnuts. Vino calienteis the mulled wine of the season, but don’t miss out on chocolate caliente, Spain’s pudding-like hot chocolate. Churros, sugary donut-like concoctions that you dip into rich chocolate, are a must to enjoy the full experience.
