Christmas dinner most Poles spend the day feasting with their family. The Christmas meal is elaborate, served in the evening on 24 December, offering large quantities of food. This Christmas Eve meal is called Wigilia. After the first star appears in the sky, everyone shares the Christmas wafer (opłatek) and wishes good things for the coming year. Then supper begins. The meal is meatless, honouring Catholic tradition. Many households also prepare a great variety of special Christmas dishes, typically numbering 12 in honor of the 12 apostles. Dishes include: stuffed carp, fried carp, herring in wine sauce, herring in cream sauce, fruit
Polish cuisine such as "zapiekanka" (baguette with cheese, mushrooms, onion or peppers, sometimes meat and ketchup), kebab, hamburgers, hot dogs and sausage. There are also many small-scale, quick-service restaurants which usually serve items such as "zapiekanka". Traditional Christmas Eve supper called Wigilia is meatless, usually consists of barszcz (borscht) with uszka (small dumplings) – a classic Polish Christmas Eve starter, followed by fried carp, carp fillet or cod with apple & leeks fresh salad, carp in aspic etc. traditionally carp (fried or Jewish style) provides a main component of the Christmas Eve meal across Poland. Other popular dishes, for the next day,