Happy Christmas!!
I truly hope you are having a wonderful festive season.
If you have been nice, and not naughty, Santa may have been or will be good to you and bring you all lots of lovely presents. Although, if you live in countries such as Spain, you may have to wait a few more days until The Three Wise Men arrive, you still have time to be good…
However, whether you have received presents or not, and if you are lucky enough to not be working, you are probably spending the day today with family and friends.
How do most people celebrate on Christmas Day? Well, as with most big traditions it’s all about food and drink. I will always remember my first Christmas in Spain. The food was so different to what I was used to. I remember walking into the room and being faced with every type of prawn, king prawn, and seafood known to man. I sat quietly next to the plates of ham and cheese because I actually had no idea how most of the seafood was eaten. It’s clear that the traditional Christmas food changes according to where you are in the world so, today, I thought I would talk to you about what types of food and drink people generally eat over the Christmas period in the UK, and if you are Spanish, you will realise just how different it is and why I was so phased by all the Christmas seafood here!
It’s impossible for me to talk about all the traditional dishes, sweets, and desserts that we have for Xmas here so I have selected a few for now.
Lets begin with the star of the show:
Traditional Christmas lunch
You know in Britain we love our roast dinners (traditional Sunday roasts) with meat and all the trimmings. All the trimmings means with vegetables, potatoes, gravy, etc. Well, Christmas lunch isn’t much different, really. It’s a Roast lunch. People traditionally eat roast turkey but nowadays many households make their own version of Christmas Dinner.
Why traditionally turkey? This is yet another tradition that we have in Britain thanks to the monarch, Henry VIII. He was thought to have brought the non-native bird to the Christmas table. It did however take many hundreds of years to become ‘the’ Christmas meat of choice. Nowadays, many people swap the turkey for roast ham, duck, or other types of meat.
The roasted meat is served with an array of vegetables, pigs in blankets (small sausages wrapped in bacon), roast potatoes, vegetables such as parsnips, carrots, and stuffing and all covered in gravy (a sauce made with the roasting juices and other ingredients)...oh, and, whether you love them or hate them, Brussel sprouts will also be making an appearance on your plate on Christmas Day.
Mince Pies
In Britain, we also love our pastry. These little pies were not originally sweet. Nowadays they are small sweet pies filled with dried fruits and spices which are cooked to a thick jam-like consistency. You will actually find that many of the traditional Christmas sweets contain dried fruits such as sultanas, currants, nuts, etc.
Christmas Pudding
This is yet another fruit-filled pudding that was originally savoury but over the years became sweet. It is a strong, rich, heavy cake-like pudding.
Did you know that traditionally it can be made up to five weeks before Christmas? Yep, five weeks!
For many families, it became a tradition to become a ritual to make Christmas pudding. All the family members would stir it and make a wish. A coin would then be added to the mix and whoever found the coin in their piece of Christmas pudding would have luck and good fortune for the rest of the year.
Once prepared, it would then be steamed and stored. When you serve it can be doused in brandy and flambéd. Serving a fire-lit pudding at the table can be quite dramatic!! It is served warm with warm custard, cream, ice cream, or brandy butter.
Bucks Fizz
Invented in London in 1921, it is a drink made of two parts champagne to one part orange juice. It is a cocktail typically served around breakfast time on Christmas Day or just before lunch.
Trifle
This is one not to be missed. It is a typical Christmas dessert and although it sounds like an odd mix, I suggest you try it! It’s definitely a hit with all my non-English friends and family. Are you ready? It’s a dessert made in layers. The first one being a layer of fruit cocktail, Ladyfinger biscuits sprinkled with a few drops of sherry and raspberry jelly. Leave it to set. You then add a layer of custard. Leave it to go cold and set. On the top, you add a layer of whipped cream and some almond slices to decorate. Pure bliss.
It’s not all taught in textbooks!
I thought it a great moment to talk about the north-south divide in the UK and a huge difference in language that could easily confuse you.
If you are in the southern part of the country you will hear people refer to their midday meal as “Lunch” and their evening meal as “Dinner”.
If you are in the northern half of the UK, you will hear people call their midday meal “Dinner” and their evening meal “Tea”. It’s time for tea refers to having an evening meal.
You’re so sweet!
There is also a lot of confusion among students about talking about the sweet dish that we finish with when having a meal.
There are various possibilities: we can refer to it as:
A sweet - Would you like to see the sweet menu, sir?
A dessert (you have probably learned this one) - Would anyone like dessert?
A pudding - This can actually mean just dessert. Do not confuse it, if you are Spanish with “pudín”. Pudding means '“dessert” or “sweet”
The 4 stages of life
In the first stage, you believe in Father Christmas.
In the second stage, you don’t believe in Father Christmas.
In the third stage, you are Father Christmas.
And finally, you look like Father Christmas!
That’s all for this week folks! Thanks so much for reading and listening. I hope you enjoyed this week’s Woodside Weekly. If you did, please like and share with friends and family. Your support means a lot!
Share this post