8th December, 2021
Although Japan acknowledges Christmas, it isn’t a national holiday, and it isn’t celebrated with the same gusto as Westerners. It is instead seen as a romantic festival similar to Valentine’s Day where couples get to spend some time together, mainly on the 24th of December.
Throughout the years, apart from the traditional Christmas cake, other interesting food habits have been picked up with people eating fried chicken, potato salad, and wagashi – quite different from the homecooked turkey consumed in the West.
This blog will explore how to re-create the popular dishes consumed in Japan on Christmas Day.
Eaten as a side dish on Christmas Day in Japan, the potato salad comes from the German culture of consuming the dish during the festive season. Adding a Japanese touch to the salad would make it a great starter for your Christmas dinner menu.
Preparation method:
Since turkey is hard to find in Japan, the fried chicken tradition became popular in the 1970s thanks to KFC’s marketing campaign, with people now visiting the franchise every Christmas to mark the big day.
Inspired by this tradition, we have created Japanese Miso Fried Chicken Karaage. Containing a traditional mix of sake and ginger, with a touch of Honteri for sweetness. This dish makes a perfect main for your three course Japanese Christmas dinner.
Wagashi is a popular Japanese sweet consumed throughout the year in different shapes and flavours that vary depending on each season. The Nerikiri wagashi in particular, makes a great Christmas dish as it can be made in any festive shape such as a snowman, Santa, reindeer, Christmas tree and more.
Preparation Method:
This mix of traditional (wagashi) and Western-styled Japanese Christmas dinner would make a great menu choice for your restaurant during the festive season. More festive recipes can be found on our recipes page. You can learn more about Mizkan Chef’s products through here and sign up to our newsletter for all the latest news and updates within the Japanese foodservice industry.