…and if there is nothing else but love and good food, it’s Christmas :). At least those are my associations when I think about Christmas. The feast of love and joy! And of course, this is related to good food :).
For me, a perfect vegan Christmas menu consists of a light starter, a more savory main course, and a creamy dessert.
Let’s start with the appetizer.
The fennel-orange salad is very refreshing and complements well the rest of this vegan Christmas menu. The caramelized walnuts give the salad an extra crunch and the grapefruit the slight bitter kick.
Have you ever wondered why you always eat a festive roast at Christmas? In Germany, 800 million animals are slaughtered every year, 300 million more than 15 years ago. That doesn’t sound so festive to me, to be honest :).

- 2 oranges
- 1 blood orange
- 2 fennel tubers
- 1 ripe avocado
- red & brown pepper
- For the walnuts:
- 2 handful of walnuts
- 4 tsp birch sugar, or other
- 1 tsp cinnamon
- For the dressing:
- 1 orange
- 2 tbs almond or oat drink
- 2 tbs vinegar
- 1 tbs maple syrup
- 2 tsp mustard
- dill, fresh or dried
- salt, pepper to taste
- For the salad
- Clean the fennel tubers. Keep the tender green, remove the stalk inside as desired. Cut the fennel into fine slices. Chop the fennel green. Peel the oranges and cut out the fillets. Save the juice for the dressing. Peel the avocado and cut into slices.
- For the dressing
- transfer all the ingredients for the dressing plus the saved orange juice in a blender and mix until creamy. Optional (lazy version), transfer everything in a jar and shake until combined.
- For the walnuts
- In a saucepan, melt the sugar. Add nuts and cinnamon and mix well with sugar until coated. Optional, add a bit of coconut oil. Pour the caramelized nuts onto a paper towel and allow to cool slightly.
- Serve
- Arrange oranges, fennel, and avocado in a bowl, sprinkle with walnuts, fennel-green and if necessary further dill. Serve with the walnuts.

The second course of the vegan Christmas menu is a spicy red bean goulash with potato and pumpkin dumplings and smoked portobello. It might sound complicated but it’s actually more easy as it sounds. And the outcome is absolutely worth it :)!
[…] Let’s start with a refreshing starter for your festive meal. For this, I recommend a salad with fennel, oranges and caramelized walnuts. […]