The essential Czech Christmas carp

Fabrice Martin-Plichta, long-time Prague correspondent for Le Monde, gets a kick out of traditional Czech Christmas foods. In an interview with Lenka Zlámalová and Josef Greš, he says: "The Czechs are terribly conservative. Ninety percent of the people serve breaded carp with potato salad for dinner on Christmas Eve. I have nothing against traditions and habits – I happily keep some myself. But in the Mediterranean countries it would be perfectly inconceivable for a huge majority of the population to have only one sort of meal on the Christmas table, prepared exactly the same way.... Don't get me wrong: I love to eat carp, and more than once a year, but definitely not breaded... On the other hand I love roast sirloin or roast pork with dumplings. And I also find fruit dumplings or sweet casseroles interesting. You never see a sweet main course in Mediterranean cuisine. It's a real adventure for the taste buds."

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