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Venezuelan Christmas Foodways

Festival

The most fixed food calendar in the country. THE PLATO NAVIDEÑO: hallaca, PAN DE JAMÓN (a soft enriched loaf rolled with ham, olives and raisins, a Caracas bakery creation generally dated to around 1905 and now universal), ENSALADA DE GALLINA (chicken, potato and mayonnaise), and PERNIL or pork leg. Then DULCE DE LECHOSA — green papaya in papelón syrup with clove — and PONCHE CREMA, the egg-and-rum drink first commercialised in the 1900s. With the GAITA of Zulia and the AGUINALDOS. ⚠ THE HALLACA MAKING IS THE EVENT, days beforehand, and for the diaspora it is the thing most deliberately reconstructed abroad.

Atlas — where and when

Where in the world

Communities and languages

Languages: Spanish

What is recorded

  • Pan de jamón is documented as a Caracas bakery creation generally dated to around 1905, and ponche crema as commercialised in the early twentieth century. The Christmas plate of hallaca, pan de jamón, ensalada de gallina and pernil is recorded as a documented national assemblage rather than as an ancient tradition. documented
  • Pan de jamón is created in a Caracas bakery and becomes part of the national Christmas plate. probable

Recipes

No recipes are filed under this cuisine yet.