FOOD & DRINK

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Today’s Christmas traditions may seem asold and authentic as they come, but areactually a patchwork of numerous cen-turies and countries’ customs woven to-gether with a good dose of Christmasspirit. Some rituals have survived for mil-lennia, while others, such as serving a pea-cock for Christmas and dating from 1430,have fallen from fashion.

Some customs are so well established thatwe follow them without any hesitation.Today a Christmas wreath is a commondecorative item during the season, but thewreath on your front door is a remnant ofthe ancient pagan practice of bringingevergreen foliage into the home symbolis-ing everlasting life and renewal at thedarkest time of the year. Pagan rituals ofmid-winter often featured a wreath ofevergreen with four candles. The candleswere placed in each of the four directions,representing the elements of earth, wind,

water and fire, with the shape of thewreath being symbolic of the continuanceof the circle of life. The early Christians re-appropriated the existing Pagan mid-win-ter festival, deciding that it should instead

celebrate Jesus’s birthday and we find theadvent wreath is created with four can-dles.

It is true to say that when someone men-tions Christmas dinner it is hard not tothink of turkey and all the trimmings, al-

though this is a relatively new tradition inthe history of Christmas celebrations. Amedieval Christmas lasted for 12 days, andNew Year’s Day and Twelfth Night werejust as important as December 25th.Christmas Eve was a day of fast andChristmas Day was the first day of feast-ing and a real celebration. A medievalChristmas feast would have been a splen-did affair to behold, but perhaps a littledaunting for the digestive system. For KingHenry V it included dates, carp, eelsroasted with lamprey, and a leach milk jelly.This 15th century feast concluded with vi-sually alluring sugar sculptures known assotiltees or subtleties.

So why, with a Christmas culinary historythat includes peacocks and roasted eels,do we eat turkey for Christmas?Yorkshireman, William Strickland, intro-duced turkeys into the UK more than 500years ago after acquiring six birds from

The Echo of Christmas Traditions

“A medieval Christmas lasted for 12 days, and

New Year’s Day and TwelfthNight were just as important

as 25 December.”

Christmas food in BritainPerhaps the most novel British Christmas foodie quirk isthe Christmas pudding, which can be traced back tomedieval times and reflects the British passion for bothsweet and savoury puddings. this dense, fruity, dishcontains 13 ingredients meant to represent Jesus and hisdisciples. It is made on the weekend before Advent called‘stir-up Sunday’, when everyone in the house is invited tostir the pudding and make a wish. the pudding is thenwrapped in muslin, placed in a pudding bowl and onChristmas day it is boiled before being turned out, dousedin brandy, set alight and ceremoniously brought to thetable aflame. traditionally, silver pieces were placed in thepudding, but now people use coins; just be sure to warnguests before serving.

turkey is the most popular choice as a main course formost households on Christmas day, but there are othermeats to enjoy over the festive season. Gammon,uncooked cured pork, is popular on Christmas Eve.traditionally, it is studded with cloves and covered inbrown sugar before being roasted, giving it a rich smokyflavour. the ham can then be used for all sorts of dishes:enjoy it with fried eggs for breakfast, with chutneys andpickles for lunch and use the final cuts to make a deliciousham and turkey pie for a post-Christmas dish. Wild gamesuch as duck, pheasant, partridge and venison are also inseason, and have a delicate and unique flavour.

On Christmas Day popular canapés include devils onhorseback (prunes wrapped and cooked in bacon) andsmoked salmon blinis. Main course traditional ‘trimmings’include roast parsnips, red cabbage and bread sauce(bread in milk seasoned with cloves). Afterwards enjoyChristmas pudding served with brandy butter, followed byStilton cheese, crackers and a glass of port. If cooking allof this seems a little daunting, use a reliable British cookbook such as Delia Smith’s Christmas cookery book toguide you.

Most of all enjoy exploring the food shops over thefestive period and tasting what is on offer. treats such asroasted chestnuts, mince pies with brandy butter,Christmas cake and mulled wine are all worth sampling.Just forget about the diet until January!

FOOD & DRINK

10 FOCUS The Magazine November/December 2017 www.focus-info.org

Native American traders on his travels. Prior to that,people's meat of choice for Christmas includedgoose, boars' head, roast swan or mutton.

Henry VIII was the first English king to enjoy turkey inthe 16th century, but it was Edward VII who madeeating turkey fashionable at Christmas. Today, approx-imately 10 million turkeys are eaten in the UK everyyear. Up until the 1950s it was widely considered aluxury, and in the 1930s the average person had towork for a week to be able to buy a turkey.

As for the festive trimmings, many of them are rela-tive newcomers. As you tuck into roast potatoes, youmay be interested to know that these are a Regencyspeciality. Meanwhile festive Brussel sprouts were im-ported around 400 years ago. They were grown andeaten for practical reasons because they are one ofthe toughest vegetables, able to withstand freezingweather conditions.

Pigs in blankets are a US import with the earliestwritten record dating to 1957. Cranberry sauce isanother dish to thank the Americans for. Legend hasit that cranberries were served with turkey at thevery first Thanksgiving in Massachusetts.

The historic 12-day holiday sometimes saw the

Doune Mackenzie is a trained cook and was marketingmanager at Leith’s School of Food and Wine for eight years. Shenow runs a small lettings business for Scottish holiday homeswww.farresate.co.uk and is available for food or property-related marketing jobs dounemac@hotmail.com

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FOOD & DRINK

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normal social hierarchy reversed, not un-like the Roman feast of Saturnalia, wherethe masters waited on the slaves. The'Lord of Misrule', a lowly servant, might becrowned master of ceremonies and japes,and echoes of the tradition survive todayin wearing paper crowns found inChristmas crackers.

Like mince pies, Christmas pudding didn’tstart off as sweet treat. In the 1300s fruits,spices and wine were added to help pre-serve the beef and mutton that made upthe festive dish. By the 17th century, the

meat was gone and it was solidified witheggs and breadcrumbs. By the Victorianera the practice of setting fire to the pud-ding developed, a tradition that would begreeted with a round of applause when itwas brought to the table.

Most UK families will serve up a roastturkey as the centrepiece of their meal,but Christmas traditions are once againchanging. The modern Christmas feast islikely to see chipolatas wrapped in sageand pancetta; steamed sprouts with chest-nuts and prosciutto, and apricot and wal-

nut stuffing balls. As for the festive roast,some are opting for curries or pizza in-stead. Indeed, one major supermarketlaunched a Christmas dinner pizza lastyear, boasting it only took ten minutes tocook. I can only hope that in 50 years Iwon’t be writing about how pizza becamea staple Christmas tradition.

Seren Charrington-Hollinsis a professional food historian,broadcaster and food writer. She canbe reached at www.foodhistorian.co.uk

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