- Poultry eating nations face highest costs, with families in Spain spending most on Christmas dinner after Germany
- Romanians spend the least on their traditional Christmas dinner of sarmale (pork and minced beef) with mamaliga and cozonac
Families in Germany are potentially facing the world’s most expensive Christmas dinner this year, according to a study of 12 countries across three continents by the social investing network eToro.
eToro looked at local supermarket prices of traditional Christmas cuisine and found that a typical German festive meal of roast goose and trimmings including bacon, apples and onions will cost €66.70 to feed a family of four, with 3 kg of goose breast alone costing almost €57. At the other end of the spectrum, a typical Romanian Christmas feast of sarmale (pork and minced beef) with mamaliga along with all of the usual trimmings – including sour cream and hot peppers- and home-made cozonac, would cost a family of four just €26.
Whilst German families face the priciest Christmas dinner in eToro’s study, several other poultry-eating nations face similarly high costs. Spanish (€60.90) families, for example, will fork out similarly high sums for their festive meal, turkey with apples, raisins and onions. The outlier is the UK, where turkey costs are lower. To enjoy a traditional British Christmas dinner of turkey and the classic trimmings, families in the UK will need to pay €32.48.
Ben Laidler, Global Markets Strategist at eToro, said: “Families across the world are all feeling the impact of food prices that have surged well ahead of already high inflation this year, and our global study demonstrates the effect that this will have on Christmas dinners.
“What the price data also shows is that many inflationary pressures are local, with big cost differences between countries, some of which border each other. One thing for certain is that traditional poultry dishes – be it goose or turkey – ramp up the cost of Christmas dinners with prices feeling the pressure of recent avian flu culls across Europe. We may see this drive demand for cheaper sources of protein this Christmas.”
Table shows cost of Christmas dinner ingredients across 12 countries in euros
| Rank (highest cost to lowest) | Country | Christmas dish | Cost (€) |
| 1 | Germany | Goose & trimmings | 66.70 |
| 2 | Spain | Turkey & trimmings | 60.90 |
| 3 | Italy | Tortellini in broth | 47.68 |
| 4 | Holland | Pork roulade | 45.12 |
| 5 | USA | Turkey & trimmings | 44.31 |
| 6 | France | Turkey & trimmings | 41.06 |
| 7 | Australia | Barbecue | 34.80 |
| 8 | Denmark | Pork roast | 34.34 |
| 9 | UK | Turkey & trimmings | 32.48 |
| 10 | Poland | Dumplings with sauerkraut & mushrooms with borshch | 30.39 |
| 11 | Norway | Pork roast | 26.80 |
| 12 | Romania | Sarmale with mamaliga and cozonac | 25.87 |
Just above Romania, households in Norway will enjoy the second cheapest Christmas dinner amongst those countries included in the study – with a typical Norwegian pork roast with the usual trimmings setting a family of four back €26,80.
Food price inflation has surged globally this year, with the latest EU food inflation figure at 17.2%, whilst the corresponding figure for the UK is 16%.
Notes
Data was collected between 21.11.2022 and 24.11.2022. Currency exchange rates were taken on Wednesday 23.11.2022 (as below)
- GBP/EUR 1.16
- GBP/USD 1.19
- GBP/AUD 1.79
The countries included in the study are countries in which eToro has analysts or teams on the ground able to collect reliable, robust data. Costs based on a traditional Christmas main course dinner, for a family of four, with ingredients sourced from a leading local supermarket chain.
Please get in touch if you would like a breakdown of ingredient prices for individual countries, along with the source of the prices.
About eToro
eToro is a social investment network that empowers people to grow their knowledge and wealth as part of a global community of successful investors. eToro was founded in 2007 with the vision of opening up the global markets so that everyone can trade and invest in a simple and transparent way. Today, eToro is a global community of more than 30 million registered users who share their investment strategies; and anyone can follow the approaches of those who have been the most successful. Due to the simplicity of the platform users can easily buy, hold and sell assets, monitor their portfolio in real time, and transact whenever they want.
Photo: www.pixabay.com
