As the 5pm Dining blog prepares to take a break, we have a look at how other countries celebrate Christmas.

For reasons we have yet to fathom, the Australian personal finance comparison website finder.com has researched what people eat for Christmas dinner, assuming they have one, in 90 countries around the globe.

It would appear that turkey is not just a Brit fave. The inhabitants of nineteen countries, including Belgium, Malta and Slovenia, are fond of turkey for a main course.

Tripe with your tinsel

Other countries prefer a culinary Christmas which will appear rather exotic to most Brits.

For example, Dominicans often have tripe soup for Christmas dinner while a Russian Christmas meal is not complete without a porridge made from rice or soup.

The most eye-catching preference is possibly mattak, a.k.a. muktuk, a whale skin and blubber delicacy much loved by Greenlanders. (main pic from Wiki Commons)

Apparently, it tastes like fresh coconut and is often swallowed in chunks as it is hard to chew. If you reckon that you might not manage to get that down, you could ask your host for some kiviak - flesh from an arctic bird which is buried whole and raw in sealskin for several months.

Yum.

KFC for Christmas

Other Christmas customs seem so unlikely that you need to pinch yourself. We haven't seen this ourselves but word has it that many Japanese flock to their local KFC for a Christmas meal. 

An advertising campaign by the Colonel's fried chicken company convinced people there that Westerners celebrate the season with Christmas with chicken rather than turkey.

Inviting a potential partner out to KFC on Christmas Eve is seen as deeply romantic. Because, of course, nothing says 'I'd pure winch you' with more passion than a KFC family bucket.

And on that note, we will wish you a Merry Christmas. The blog will be back on Wednesday 27th.

If you want to explore the Christmas culinary map, there is an interactive version of it here.