Most Filipinos all over the world dream of coming home every Christmas. The thought of the family’s Noche Buena gives us more reason not just to celebrate the birth of Jesus Christ but to be with our families gathering around the dining table and sharing our favorite Filipino dishes and stories from everyone.

A few weeks ago, i asked friends about their usual Noche Buena or what were the most memorable Filipino dishes served in their Noche Buena. Every story brought me to their own homes and every memory brought them back to the happiest places and happiest times of their lives. This is the point when food becomes a destination for a lot of us. The taste, the smell, the sight of our family Noche Buena is a delight to our senses and a reminder of the Filipino HOME.

Here are a few friends talking about their memories of their NOCHE BUENA.

Mae Paner aka Juana Change, Cultural Activist and Unilever Sooo Pinoy Ambassador

 Ang noche buena namin nung bata pa ako laging makarne at/o masarsa!  Ang embutido sa pinakamalaking batyang panglaba hinahalo. Ang  mechado thick sa pagka red ay di tinitipid sa butter, keso, atay, ham at  syempre may tabang micha para maganda pag hiniwa, may lechon din,  queso de bola at chokolate! Ang macaroni salad banyera ang hinahaluan  at laging problema na di na magkasya sa ref ang dami ng ulam. 

 Pero nung naghirap kami may mga nabago din. Nalaglag na queso de  bola! whaaa! ako na lang kasi ang may gusto! hindi na sya popular choice!  Ang hindi mabago pero sinusubukan ko taun-taon ay ang magbawas ng  sobrang dami sa ka pagka OA ng mga niluluto. Ang anim na kilong baka  ginagawa kong apat na lang. Kasi naman importante sa amin na lahat ay may iuuwing ulam sa kanya-kanyang bahay kinabukasan. 

Ang love sa aking pamilya ay nakapalibot sa kwento ng pagkain at dama namin yan pag noche buena!

Joel Rufino Nunez, Lawyer, T/A Nunez Law, Ozamiz City

 Growing up in Ozamiz City, the Christmas Media Noche was something  to look forward to, and worth taking an afternoon nap for. The staples  were store-bought Chinese ham cooked and glazed at home, quezo de  bola, fruit cake and fruit salad. The meal was followed by the opening  of gifts and thanksgiving prayers. The New Year’s Media Noche differed  only in the drinking of Mompó and merry-making after the meal.

Carlos Palma, Blogger, Foodie Manila

 The typical Noche Buena in the Palma household consists of Bacalao,  Callos, Lechon, Lengua, Humba, Chicken Gallantina, Relleno, and  Embotido. This is the usual spread for our family. But dinner doesn’t end  at the main course. This continues well into the night as conversation  and wine starts to flow freely. Families catching up, bonding, sharing  the occasional family gossip, and who is doing what and where are fuel  to the fire that keeps adults up well into the night.

As the night approaches the wee hours in the evening, the pinoy bread called pan-de-sal served with the traditional queso de bola from Marca Pina or Marca Pato with the sliced ham in honey from Majestic Ham. This is served with hot tablea tsokolate and fruits. But you can opt to place humba, callos, or embotido in between the semi-sweet bread as well. As everything starts to wind down, the fruit salad, buko salad, and buko pandan and the occasional cake, cookies, and brownies just to satisfy the sweet tooth.

Mon Urbano, Chef, MonDay Chefs

 The most unforgettable noche buena spent with my family would be in  my younger years. I remember spending this with the whole family  after attending midnight mass on Christmas eve makes it very Pinoy.  We all gather on a long table with friends and relatives, since my  parents are both Ilocanos, we feast on Tinubong (kakanin cooked inside  bamboo stick), Dinardaraan (dinuguan) at puto, sopas, queso de bola  and of course Bagnet (ilocos lechon kawali) and Jamon (ham). This  festive meal is followed by the exchange of gifts. 

Wilfrido Carpio, Slow Food Advocate, Pampanga

 We have what we call “ligang pasku” or “nilagang pasku”. Basically a  nilaga with beef shanks, chicken, pork served piping after the midnight  mass. This is common to all households in Sta. Rita, plus asado and then  the suman pasko. Growing up, we have this whole leg of chinese ham  that my dad would cook in pineapple juice, and then we would sprinkle  brown sugar on it, tapos pa-plantsahin with an iron sianse na pinainit  sa apoy.

 If you visit the markets in Pampanga on the 23rd or 24th of December, makikita mo ang mga manok (dressed and those that are alive) and the vegetable ingredients for the nilaga, pechay baguio, patatas, etc. Recent times, you would see households grilling barbeque and hotdogs (perhaps because there are 3 hotdog manufacturer in Pampanga…Pampanga’s Best, Mekeni and Roel’s and the supply is steady and affordable).

Pero karamihan ng mga bahay, especially sa Sta. Rita, siguradong may nilagang pasko.

Arch. Nonoy Ozaeta, Professor, UP College of Architecture

 The dinner is usually a family reunion with everyone bringing their  family signature dishes such as creamy kare-kare with special home-  made bagoong, a super-yummy galantina, a waldorf salad with  berries, or lechon, of course. Free-flowing drinks, of course. The  children usually perform the “required” song and dance numbers before  they line up for their money-gifts from lolos and lolas.

 Sa gabi pa lang yun. Breakfast at my house is usually after our 7am gift-  opening ritual. Then we have ensaymada, hot tsokolate “e”, ham, some special cheese, and hot pandesal.

          We also have a clan brunch on my wife’s side with either a roast (beef or ham), a pasta, a salad, and a light juice. Everything else changes. Oh, yes there’s always some kakanin and tsokolate “e”. And usually someone (often a balikbayan relative) brings along some imported chocolate and nuts. Then we have a ritual of “opening the gifts” with everyone giving and receiving gifts as the youngest child is usually tasked to read out the names on the gifts and hand them out.

          What makes this all Filipino? I guess it’s not so much the food itself but the sharing of the food. We’re always around the table talking and eating and no one usually gets up until we’re good and stuffed.

          The food is a vehicle to re-connect especially as the years go by and someone usually says they miss the food of this person who isn’t with us anymore or how a particular food reminds us of an event in family history. Our Christmas food, I guess, is both a family symbol and way of reinforcing our family culture and identity.

Dotty Du, Food Entrepreneur , Davao City

 Our Noche Buena fare varies from year to year but one thing is  constant. It’s my mom’s ham. It always feels like Christmas when the  aroma of her home made ham cooked in beer and pineapple juice  envelopes the whole house. We know it’s hard work for her because it  takes several weeks to prepare, from the curing, boiling and finally  baking it with her pineapple and brown sugar glaze on top. I guess  every pinoy home has ham on the table during noche buena. But for me,  even the most expensive commercial ham in the market couldn’t compete with my mom’s homemade ham.

Giney Villar, Chef, Adarna Food and Culture, Manila

My mother likes variety so we’d always have something different for Christmas although there would be dishes that would be ‘expected’ to make it to the table , i.e. leg of ham from Excellente, Marca Pina or Pato queso de bola, pancit molo and fruit salad to name a few.

Together with these items, there could be cocido, grilled chicken, chicken relleno, mechado, morcon and native preserves/sweets particularly leche flan, macapuno and ube halaya. 

          Even if there were only five of us, there would be enough food for 20. Llike many Filipinos of my generation, we still ‘bowed’ to the traditional Pinoy Christmas staples (hindi puedeng walang queso de bola, etc.). Although, we are true-blue Manilenos, we have come to expect the special Christmas delicacies from other provinces. More than the food, everyone had to be at home. So we still generated the same noise as 20 people.

Robin Tomas, Fashion Designer, New York

In our family, we celebrate noche buena with my paternal clan, Ham  with sweet glaze was always the highlight of the noche buena feast. We  also had traditional queso de bola, Filipino dishes and some kid friendly  dishes like spaghetti. This is followed by our traditional announced gift  giving For Christmas day lunch, we spend it with my maternal clan,  where My lola’s specialty kare kare and caldereta, would be the  highlight, followed by various programs of singing, playing  instruments, or standup comedy.

Ryan Sebastian, Kulinarya Program Head, Department of Tourism, Cavite

 Tipikal na pong noche buena sa amin sa bayan ng Naic ang hamon,  keso de bola,  spaghetti o pancit, pandesal o bonete, bibingka at puto  bumbong na  may tsaang avocado. Mayroon ding nagluluto ng “do-re-  mi” o mga  ulam na nagtatapos sa “do” gaya ng hamonaDO, embutiDO  at menuDO.  Pero marami pa rin sa amin ang nagluluto ng arroz caldo  at Ahon-  Lusong (sotanghong may sabaw at langores sa ibang parte  ng Cavite).

Day Salonga, Chef, Aurora’s Heritage Cuisine, Laguna

 Our noche buena starts with cooking, each family member helps in  preparing. The spread includes family recipes– baked chicken,  galentina and paella, morcon, embutido, etc., mom’s baked Xmas  goodies and sweets. Gathering inside the kitchen then around the table  makes it sooo Pinoy!