These holiday cakes link Christmas to the Norse god of lightning.

The original energy bar.

Baloney's predecessor is sweet, delicately spiced, and bigger than your head.

The best place to find the “nectar of the gods” is Holy Island.

The traditional sweet currant cake has an incendiary reputation.

The fiery fruit brandy of the Balkans.

Spread this fat-poached meat on a crusty French loaf.

In Lisbon, tiny, standing-room-only bars specialize in this sour cherry liqueur.

Belgium's stew of beef and abbey-style ale is essentially bourguignon for beer lovers.

The washed and dried root of the licorice plant was once a popular natural “candy.”

A popular Slovenian fast-food joint doesn't specialize in beef.

This British temperance tonic is now a Ramadan favorite.

You can find authentic versions of this sour Slavic brew at street stalls and monasteries.

On November 5, the British celebrate a thwarted assassination attempt with bonfires and deliciously dense, sticky gingerbread.

For some students at the University of Oxford, the end of the year means getting covered with eggs, shaving cream, and champagne.

This rustic cider's name derives from an English term for fruit thievery.

Historians debate whether this dish actually originated with Italian sex workers.

This “hodgepodge” of affordable ingredients fueled local laborers during the Industrial Revolution.

This summery parfait has mingled with British royals and literary elites.

In Yorkshire, the holidays usher in this salty-sweet combo.

A sweet and sticky accident from Derbyshire, England.

In the 19th century, tin miners ate these handheld pies and left their crusts to appease mischievous, mine-dwelling spirits.

Once steamed in shirt sleeves and pant legs, this sweet roll took on the nickname “dead man's leg.”

There's a legend that this Latvian herbal liqueur saved an ailing Catherine the Great.