Fairy Bread And 8 Other Birthday Treats Around The World

The Daily Meal looks at the birthday celebrations from 9 countries around the world.

In Argentina, birthdays are typically celebrated with sandwiches de miga, which are similar to tea sandwiches, and masas, or sweet pastries from the bakery. Tradition also dictates that friends and family members pull a celebrating child's earlobes for each year of his or her age.

No Australian birthday is complete without one of Australia's most, well, confusing foods to outsiders: Fairy bread. Fairy bread is simple and sweet — very sweet. It's a treat of buttered bread decorated with lots of sprinkles, or "hundreds and thousands," as they are called in Australia. Fairy bread is a standard part of any Australian childhood. 

In Brazil, one common sweet treat eaten on birthdays is brigadeiro, a very popular candy that is made using sweetened condensed milk and a Brazilian chocolate powder similar to Nesquik. The brigadeiro are rolled into balls and are usually decorated with chocolate sprinkles or some kind of granulated chocolate. Kids also eat candies shaped like fruits and vegetables. 

In China, long noodles, also called long life noodles or longevity noodles, are eaten to celebrate one's birthday. The dish is typically made with vermicelli noodles and a hardboiled egg, which represents fertility or life, served in a broth. 

British birthday traditions are similar to those in America, with lots of birthday cake served at parties; however, in England, is it common to place coins inside someone's birthday cake as a symbol of wealth for the future. 

In Ghana, birthday breakfast is the way to go. A typical morning repast is oto, which is a dish made from hardboiled eggs, mashed yam, and some type of oil, typically palm oil (though margarine can be used instead). 

We all love the piñata, a tradition with Mexican roots. Birthday piñatas are filled with candy and are a staple in any birthday celebration in Mexico. Additionally, there is the tradition of "la mordida" ("the bite"), when the birthday girl or boy's face is shoved into the cake for a first taste, while friends and family shout, "Mordida! Mordida! Mordida." Traditionally, the cake is a tres leches cake, or a multicolored layered cake.

A traditional birthday meal in Russia usually consists of fish as well as potato and beet salads. Pirozhki, fried dumplings filled with meat, fish, or vegetables, are also common. There is typically no birthday cake; instead, it's more common to have fruit pies with a birthday greeting carved into the crust of the pie.

There is only one meal to have on your birthday in South Korea: miyeokguk, seaweed soup, associated with birthdays because Korean women eat seaweed soup for nourishment while they're pregnant and after giving birth. The soup is said to bring good luck for the coming year.