Fritters are portions of fruit, meat, seafood, cheese, or vegetables that are covered in dough and then deep-fried. They are popular all over the world and are eaten in various forms in Africa, Asia, Iran, New Zealand, the United Kingdom, and the United States.

They are also the star of a holiday known as National Fritter Day—a holiday that’s celebrated annually on December 2. Although there is some dispute over which fried foods are fritters and which aren’t, most people enjoy trying to figure it out for themselves.

Not All Fritters Are The Same

As mentioned earlier, there is some debate over which fried foods are considered a fritter and which are not. Some people believe that anything that’s battered and fried is technically a fritter, while others believe that the filling inside the dough has to be minced for it to be called a fritter.

This is further complicated by the fact that different cultures call different foods fritters. In the U.S., for instance, fritters are usually made using fruits or vegetables covered in wheat flour batter. In Japan, tempura is often used to make various fritters, and in Pakistan and India, chickpea flour is used to bread the fritters.

Some Of The Most Popular Types Of Fritters

Below are some of the fritters we’ve discovered while working on this holiday. To us, all of them sound delicious, but we’re sure every single person reading this holiday article will have their favorites.

• Kwek-Kwek Fritters (Philippines)
• Apple Fritters (U.S.)
• Nam Phrik Kapi (Thailand)
• Ojingeo-Twigim (Korea)
• Kuku-Sabzi (Iran)
• Whitebait Fritters (New Zealand)
• Pea Fritters (Great Britain)

Observing National Fritter Day

Grab your favorite type of fritter from your local grocery store or make one of the many recipes for fritters that you can find on the internet. If you’re looking for fritter recipes, just search for the hashtag #NationalFritterDay, and you’re likely to find a whole lot of them being shared by people.