Slavic Christmas & New Year Foods In 14 minutes

Our instagram:   / slavique_channel   Patreon for support: patreon.com/SlaviqueOfficial December is a special time of year — the darkest month, filled with lights, traditions, and family gatherings. Across Slavic countries, Christmas and New Year are the most important winter holidays, and no celebration is complete without a festive table. In this video, we explore traditional Slavic Christmas and New Year foods and discover what people eat across Eastern, Western, and Southern Slavic countries. Let’s start with the Eastern Slavs — Russia, Ukraine, and Belarus. Due to Soviet history, New Year remains the main winter holiday here. The centerpiece of the New Year’s table is Olivier salad, made with potatoes, carrots, pickles, peas, sausage or chicken, and plenty of mayonnaise. Another iconic dish is Herring Under a Fur Coat (Shuba), a layered salad with herring, beets, vegetables, and mayonnaise. Kholodets, or meat jelly, is also a must, along with mandarins, sparkling wine, and the famous Napoleon cake. For Christmas, the key dish is kutya — sweet grain porridge with raisins and honey. Among Western Slavs, Poland, Czechia, and Slovakia, Christmas is the main family holiday. Polish Christmas Eve often begins with red borscht served with mushroom dumplings called uszka. Carp is the star dish, and its scales are kept in wallets for good luck. There are always 12 dishes on the table, symbolizing the apostles. Popular desserts include poppy seed rolls (makowiec). In Czech and Slovak homes, carp is also essential, along with potato salad and festive pastries like vánočka and traditional Christmas cookies. In Southern Slavic countries, Slovenia, Croatia, Serbia, and the Balkans, roast meat is central to Christmas celebrations. Dishes like pečenka, sausages, roasted pork or lamb, and grilled meat are common. Slovenian potica and Croatian Christmas bread often contain a hidden coin for good fortune. In Bulgaria, banitsa with cheese and baked-in wishes is the main Christmas dish, turning dinner into a moment of fortune-telling. 0:00 Winter holidays among the Slavs 0:42 Christmas and New Year among the Eastern Slavs 1:32 Olivier salad, Dressed herring, Kholodets, Napoleon cake 3:56 Festive traditions and Kutia 4:34 Christmas traditions among the Western Slavs 4:49 Borscht, Carp, Makowiec, Potato salad, Kapustnica 8:19 Sweets: Vánočka, Cukroví, Gingerbread Cookies 9:01 Christmas traditions among the Southern Slavs 9:31 Pečenka, Kranjska Klobasa, Potica, Česnica, Grilled Meat 11:26 Bosnia and Herzegovina 12:11 The Badnjak Tradition and Banitsa