The winter holidays are here and everyone’s excited about the foods of the season!

This article will contain an examination of foods in different cultures that celebrate the winter season, such as Hanukkah, Christmas, and Kwanza.

First, we’ll start with a delicious Hanukkah Rugelach. This delicious pastry will help you start Hanukkah off with a bang. Made with cream cheese, raspberry/apricot/marmalade jam, along with other tempting ingredients, you’ll be saying “Mmm, mmm, Chag sameach!”

Click here for a rugelach recipe:

Continuing with the sweetener theme, I bring you Sufganiyah.  Sufganiyah is a round jelly filled donut deep fried in oil and then topped in powdered sugar.  This food comes from the old tradition of serving foods fried in olive oil in commemoration of a miracle associated with temple oil. The tradition of eating deep-fried foods is considered ancient, it was started centuries ago during the 12^th century in the time of Rabbi Maiomen Ben Yosef. But even if it’s ancient, it’s still delicious.

Click here for a sufganiyah recipe:

Now we’ll take a stop at the most well-known winter celebration, which is Christmas. Everyone loves a good old turkey, the most popular of all the Christmas foods, and we all know that after you finish this turkey, you won’t be awake until New Year’s Day! And don’t worry, I haven’t forgotten your favorite either – Christmas pudding, the best dessert. This delightful pastry varies with each culture’s version of the recipe. In Sri Lanka, it’s created with eggs, coconut milk, and sugar. In the United Kingdom, where Christmas pudding originates, pudding is served as a sponge cake with a side of custard.

Click here for the Sri Lanka Christmas pudding recipe:

Click here for the UK Christmas pudding recipe:

During Kwanzaa, which is the holiday that celebrates African culture, all types of foods are served. Types of food can range from traditional African dishes to soul food, to coastal dishes from the Atlantic rim. Foods like Jerk chicken marinade, make a savory meal with the perfect balance of Jamaican spices – allspice, garlic powder, chipotle powder, thyme, black pepper, cayenne pepper, and cinnamon. These create an intense mouthwatering flavor, which marinates with the chicken to create a heavenly tasting Caribbean meal. Cajun catfish is another great showcase of great spice mixing. Made with black pepper, garlic powder, onion powder, paprika, parsley, cayenne pepper, kosher salt, oregano, and thyme, they are mixed together in a bowl and pressed into the fish into the spice mixture and cooked in a burner.  When you’re done, you’ll be presenting a top-tier meal made for kings.

Click here a Jerk Chicken recipe:

Click here for the Cajun catfish recipe: