Overview
- Turkey emerged as the preferred British centerpiece during Queen Victoria’s reign, though many households still relied on beef, goose or rabbit due to cost.
- In medieval Britain, elites ate game such as goose, venison and even swan, whereas poorer people made pies from venison offal known as 'umbles'.
- Wartime scarcity in the 1940s led families to craft 'mock turkey' from meats like rabbit or mutton when real turkey was hard to obtain.
- Potatoes reached Europe from South America and entered Christmas traditions over time, with Victorians initially favoring mashed rather than roasted forms.
- Holiday meals vary widely worldwide, from Puerto Rican roast pig to Swedish ham and eggs with anchovies, Portuguese cod, Jamaican curry goat, Indian biryani and Japan’s KFC tradition that grew from a 1974 campaign.