Christmas may not be endemic to Beijing, but the vast number expats dwelling in the capital make it the perfect opportunity to experience traditional foods from elsewhere. Christmas cakes across Europe and other countries possess similar traits; they contain dried fruit, candied peel and nuts, and are usually spiced with cinnamon, nutmeg, cloves and cardamon seem. The end products are distinctly different however.

Stollen is the traditional Christmas cake in Germany. It has an almost bread-like consistency and includes flour, yeast, dried fruit, citrus peel, almonds, flavored with cinnamon and cardamom and dusted with icing sugar. The shape of the cake was said to represent the baby Jesus in his swaddling clothes.

Stollen originates from the town of Dresden, where there is annual 'Stollenfest' two weeks before Christmas. On this occasion, a giant Stollen weighing 3 to 4 tons is made and distributed in portions for charity. Pop by to the German Food Center on 15 Zaoying Beili to sample some.

Back in home in England, we have a Christmas tradition of piling into our friend Ed's kitchen once the clock has struck midnight. His mother, Rauhe, is Finnish, and in addition to a spectacular gingerbread house, she always makes the most delicious Finnish Bun, or Pulla, as it is called in Finland, which we merrily fill our stomachs with before going home to wait for Father Christmas.

Pulla is a type of sweet bread again with distinctive cardamom flavor. Dotted with raisins and glazed with egg, it is described as a coffee cake because it usually taken with a cup of milky coffee.

Panettone is the Christmas cake of choice in Italy. It's another spiced bread but this time with the inclusion of eggs and yoghurt, which makes it a little denser. This is served in slices, perhaps with a glass of sweet wine such as Asti, and is occasionally adorned with a scoop of Crema di Marscapone (marscapone sweetened with amaretto).

These can be bought individually boxed and hung as decorations on the Christmas tree. Try Bento & Berries in the Kerry Center, where small ones sell for around 50 RMB.

'Buche de Noel', the French chocolate Yule log, bucks the trend of dried fruit and spice, which made this my Christmas dessert of choice as a child when the inclusion of sultanas in anything rendered it positively disgusting. The 'modern' ingredients - Genoese sponge and chocolate butter cream - indicate that it is a more recent addition to the Christmas table. It is thought that pastry cooks in Paris around 1870 found inspiration from the Yule log, which would traditionally burn on the hearth throughout the festive season.

Last of all, the glorious Christmas fruitcake, consumed in England, Ireland and many commonwealth countries. Of course there are many variations on the recipe, but the making is nearly always a long, drawn out process usually begun a good few months before the big day.

I like to soak the dried fruit - figs, sultanas, currants and apricots - for at least three days in brandy before combining with eggs, brown sugar, chopped walnuts, black treacle, flour and butter and a good mix of spices, including cinnamon, cloves, mixed spice, ginger and a little bit of nutmeg.

Baking takes around four hours on a low heat, a little trying if your oven only has a one-hour timer on it. Traditionally, the cakes are then covered with marzipan and white sugar icing shortly before being eaten, but I prefer mine plain. Interestingly, in South India's Kerala state, the Christian groups that celebrate Christmas make a very similar cake - even heavier on eggs and with the addition of vanilla, candied orange peel and little coffee.

Please contact me if you have any more nutrition myths you are curious about.

This nutrition-related column is written by Nina Lenton, a qualified dietitian living in Beijing and working at Bayley and Jackson Medical Center. Contact her at nina.lenton@ikang.com

(China Daily 12/26/2007 page14)