CHRISTMAS FOOD AND DRINK
Food and drink play an important part in many people’s Christmas celebrations.
On Christmas Day many families have a special – and usually large – Christmas lunch which they might eat at some time during the afternoon. Christmas lunch might consist of roast turkey, stuffing, pigs in blankets (see below) roast potatoes, roast parsnips, boiled brussels sprouts and other vegetables, bread sauce, cranberry sauce and gravy. We often call this main course “turkey and all the trimmings”. It is usually followed by Christmas pudding. People often drink alcohol with their meal. Those who don’t have responsibility for clearing up or for looking after children might take a long nap after the Christmas lunch before starting to eat and drink again at “teatime”.
Pigs in blankets or pigs in a blanket are small pork sausages wrapped in a slice of bacon. People roast these in the oven and often serve them at Christmas lunch as part of turkey and all the trimmings.
Christmas pudding is a dessert that people traditionally serve at Christmas lunch. They make it with suet, dark sugar, black treacle, spices, dried fruit, lemon juice and – often – brandy. During the preparation, family members might stir the mixture and make a wish. Christmas pudding is very dark in colour. When it is served it can be covered with more brandy which is set alight. It is eaten with a brandy butter, cream, ice cream or custard. Home-made Christmas pudding might have a silver coin hidden inside for a lucky person to find. We occasionally call Christmas pudding “plum pudding” or “plum pud”. It doesn’t actually contain plums but in Victorian times dried fruits were sometimes called plums.
The ingredients of Christmas cake include flour, eggs, dried fruit, nuts, spices, butter, and brown sugar. The cake is often covered with marzipan and then icing and decorated with ribbons and ornaments of such things as Father Christmas, snowmen, and Christmas trees. We eat Christmas cake as part of a meal that might also include sandwiches, cold meat, cheese and mince pies. This Christmas “tea” is typically eaten just a few hours after Christmas lunch, when people haven’t fully recovered from that meal.
A mince pie is a traditional Christmas food consisting of “mincemeat” (mixed fruit) in a case of pastry. We often eat mince pies at “teatime” on Christmas Day but also at other times – perhaps as a snack – over the Christmas period. Mincemeat doesn’t contain any meat, but the name originated hundreds of years ago when cooks actually made mince pies with mutton.
When they have a Christmas meal, people often also have a festive table decoration called a Christmas cracker. Together with the person sitting next to them they pull the cracker part. Inside there is a paper strip that makes a cracking sound as its pulled in two. There are other things inside a Christmas cracker such as a small gift, a paper hat that people are expected to wear throughout the meal, and a joke or ridd
People often eat far more than usual at Christmas. But still there is usually a lot of food that is uneaten. We refer to this food as leftovers and it can provide the basis of food for several days. People sometimes joke that they are still eating leftover turkey and mince pies in January.
For some people, even those who don’t usually drink much alcohol, Christmas is a time for drinking. They often drink things that they wouldn’t drink at other times of the year. As well as beer and wine, favourite Christmas drinks include mulled wine, Bailey’s, port and sherry. In the weeks leading up to Christmas, many people meet in pubs and bars and say that they are “going for a Christmas drink”.
This is one of a series of posts about Christmas traditions in the UK. There are posts on the days of Christmas, Christmas greetings, Christmas decorations, Christmas entertainment in the UK and Christmas music.
Posted by Graham https://grahamsgrammar.com/about-me/
