Tag Archives: Ghana

20 Christmas Food Traditions Around the World

Besides New Years, Christmas is the most celebrated international holiday. According to Pew Research Center, there are about 2.2 billion Christians in the world, making up nearly one-third of the world population.

This means that about one-third of the entire world celebrates Christmas in some capacity. Just think about all that holiday cheer! 

Christmas is traditionally the celebration of Jesus’ birth on December 25th and customarily includes exchanging presents, hanging lights, decorating Christmas trees, attending church, and eating meals with family and friends.

These are some of the core practices of celebrating Christmas but many cultures add their own unique twist when it comes to observing this meaningful holiday.

Christmas Food Traditions

Some of the most interesting differences in how various cultures and regions celebrate Christmas is through their food and drink traditions. You are probably familiar with turkey in the U.S. and maybe you’ve heard of tamales in Latin America but what about rum punch in Jamaica, Kentucky Fried Chicken in Japan, or prawns in Australia!

Whatever it is, you can bet each region has its own holiday delicacy. In order to reveal some of the most interesting holiday meal traditions, Kitchen Cabinet Kings put together a list of top 20 Holiday delicacies from around the world.

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If that list got you wondering about other cool and unusual Christmas traditions check out the Philippines’ Giant Lantern Festival or the Parrandas Festival in Remedios, Cuba. If you are looking for more bizarre traditions, look up Catalonia’s defecating figure in their nativity scenes and Austria’s Krampus who goes around beating naughty kids.

Another country’s unique traditions to explore is Africa. In Ghana, people dress up in elaborate costumes and parade around on Christmas day. In Kenya and Uganda, people celebrate in much less commercial ways than many other countries.

Usually, the only gift given is a new outfit for church. On Christmas day in South Africa, many indulge on deep-fried caterpillars of the Emperor Moth.

Read more: 8 Destinations that will make you spend Christmas away from home

Traditions may differ around the world but nothing brings people together like food and the holidays, no matter where you’re from or your cultural background. Wherever you call home, there is probably a unique traditional dish, dessert, or drink you look forward to having every Christmas.

Did your favorite dish make the list? Or maybe you saw something you just have to try (personally, France’s Buche de Noel instantly made my mouth water.)

If you decide you want to travel for the holidays next year, use this list and try some of the unique Christmas dishes from the region you find yourself in.

Read more: 10 Most Unique Christmas Traditions Around the World

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20 Amazing Life Facts That Will Blow Your Mind

Airplanes are the safest way to travel. Still, 40% of passengers claim that they are terrified of flying because of the possibility of a plane crash. The thing is, the odds of a plane crash are 1 for every 1.2 million flights, with odds of dying one in a million.

Even more surprising, if you’re ever in a plane crash, you’ll have a 95.7% chance of survival.

That said, ‘more than half’ of pilots have slept at least once while flying.

You are 1 in a million even when you are ‘normal’ in as many as 265 traits (such as height, weight, eye color, etc.) that define you! You are indeed unique and so is your life’s journey!

To be in the world’s top 50% by wealth, you only need $3600 USD in net-assets. To be in the world’s top 25%, you only need $55,000 USD in net-assets (house, car, cash, stocks, jewelry, land, etc.)

Read: How to save money strategically for your travel goals

Speaking of net worth, close to 15% of the world’s population have a negative net worth.

The % of the world that’s extremely poor has more than halved since 1950. In 1970, an estimated 2.2 billion people lived in extreme poverty. In 2015, this number was a little over 700 million. The total number of people in “extreme poverty” is a third of what it was 35 years ago.

 

During World War 1, ~ 65% of Britain’s glass optics (used in military binoculars) came from Germany and ~ 70% of Germany’s rubber came from Britain. Think about that. Human interdependence is a natural condition.

Speaking of wars, only 20% of the males born in the Soviet Union in 1923 survived World War 2. Why go to war with one another?

The world produces enough food for 12 billion people, enough water for 16 billion, and enough energy for 20 billion. The only problem is the unsophisticated distribution. Fixing the distribution problem alone might eliminate world poverty forever.

On this planet, some 21,000 people die EVERY SINGLE DAY due to starvation. However, on the very same planet, obesity costs us a combined total of $2 TRILLION USD dollars a year!

Between 1984 and 1999, 10% of the Indian Army’s defense budget and 15% of the Pakistan army’s went to supplying less than 4000 troops occupying a remote glacier called the Siachen Glacier.

Belarus is the most alcohol consuming country with an average of more than 17 liters per person per year. So it means some people are drinking way, way more than that to bring the average this high.

The fertility rate in Niger was estimated to be over 6 children per woman which is the highest in the world. In 2015, it was 6.7 children per woman.

Japan, on the other hand, is having trouble keeping up the birth rates and the net population is rapidly shrinking while the median age of the population is over the age of 50.

Over 47% population of Palau is obese which is highest in the world.

Australia is the world’s biggest gambling nation with $1288 AUD gaming losses per adult.

Mauritius has the highest diabetes population with 22.30% population aged from 20 and 79.

If you earn $12,000 USD in a year then it means it would take the average laborer in Ghana about 75 years to earn the same amount.

Always, try to look at the bright side of life.

Our body has roughly 30 trillion human cells and 40 trillion microbes. So, statistically speaking, we are 40% human, 60% microbes! Yikes!

Bonus:

Sitting around for a day and a half (36 hours) burns more calories than running a marathon. If you don’t believe it, consider this:

Running a mile burns about 100 calories in an average person. A marathon is about 26.22 miles.

26.22 x 100 = 2622 calories

Say, a typical person needs about 2000 calories per day to maintain weight.

2000 x 1.5 days = 3000 calories

How is this possible?

Your heart never sleeps. It is always on the job. And your brain is also always on the job (including when you sleep). In some ways, your brain is even more active when you sleep. And then there is a basic metabolism where your muscles burns calories to perform day-to-day activities.

In summary, your muscles, heart, and brain run their own kind of a marathon every day and the calories add up to something significant, something on the scale of major athletic events. Impressed yet?