You love eating at Christmas don't you? No shame in it most people stuff their faces. Do you know why you gobble turkey? Or the significance of stuffing?

The Bird: Though I say bird, I know many of you have red meat or fish or no meat at all, but here we are looking at tradition. The excess easting at Christmas can be traced back to great feasts in Roman times and the particular food we now choose coming from Victorian influence. The eating of meat in winter comes from the basic necessity in ancient times to stay alive during the winter.
In many places throughout Northern Europe it was wild boar that was presented at winter feasts, sometimes with an orange between its teeth to represent the sun, though when this wasn't available they used apples which some believe to be where the tradition of apple sauce with pork comes from. When the Commonwealth Government tried to suppress Christmas in the 17th Century the sale of boars and their heads reduced and never grew back to the same level of popularity. The closest you will get to a boars head now in the bacon that comes with the turkey or a gammon steak. The Victorians were also very fond of game animals at Christmas and were the first to eat beef and carp at this time if year.
In the early days of Christmas the traditional bird to feast on was the male peacock. He would be skinned rather than feathered as once the meat was cooked it was then presented back within its plumage. Other birds presented with much of their feathers were swans and sometimes smaller birds like the partridge. These birds were usually only eaten by those of great wealth, hence many years down the line the goose became the bird of choice at Christmas. Even the poorest families were able to afford a couple of geese and not only were they food at Christmas, during the rest of the year they were great burglar alarms. The turkey was introduced into Britain via Europe after being discovered in its native land of the U.S and Mexico. The date the first turkey was eaten as a Christmas bird is reported to be 1542 and was eaten by Henry VIII and thus the tradition carried on for many years but only to the very wealthy. In the Dickens classic A Christmas Carol the Cratchit family feast on goose until an enlightened Scrooge visits them bringing along with him a turkey. Queen Victoria changed her Christmas bird from swan to turkey and the population could now afford to switch from goose to turkey. Traditionally, many still stick with turkey and in the UK the highest concentration of turkey farmers is still East Anglia, where its reported the birds were first farmed.

To accompany that bird:. Stuffing, love it or hate it or have it packed with apricots, was originally a very important part of the meal for practical reasons. In terms of presentation as still found today, the stuffing gives a birds back its shape which is often somewhat lost once the insides have been removed. It also helped to keep the meat from going dry which again is one of the reasons it remains popular today. One reason we no longer use it for was preservation. In the earlier centuries, the birds were hung for longer periods of time and with no way of refrigerating the meat many fell ill from bacterial stomach disease (people fall ill the same way now when the birsd is not cooked correctly). The basic ingredients of stuffing helped aid the preservation of the bird and reduce the risk of an icky stomach. Onion worked as a mild antiseptic within the gut lining to reduce the bacteria spreading. This is also the reason stuffing originally he;d sage and thyme but these herbs were also known to relieve flatulence.
Cranberry's were a popular berry with venison before it was introduced to turkey in the later part of the 19th Century. By this point, the native local cranberry was being left to one side as Britain imported the larger American cranberry, which had been used in the Thanksgiving feasts since the 1620's. In 1995, Deliah Smith (famous British chef) released a Christmas cookbook in which nine of her meals included cranberry's which lead to a 200% increase in sales on cranberry's in the U.K in that year alone.
Brussels Sprouts did not reach British festive tables until the last 19th Century and quickly became well known as the most hated vegetable among children at this time of year. Not surprisingly, that hasn't changed one bit.

The Puddings: After stuffing ones face with turkey and potatoes, one then goes about stuffing ones face with Christmas pudding and mince pies. Plum pudding, or Christmas pudding, is likely to have come from plum porridge which was a thick broth containing mutton, breadcrumbs, spices and dried fruits. The more solid pudding was originally cooked in a skin like haggis but this was soon replaced with a cloth bag in the Elizabethan times. By the Victorian era plum pudding had become associated with Christmas, and even today when cooked from scratch the ingredients are boiled in cloth or commonly foil. Its reported that even though many families buy a Christmas pudding (few make them) most of it is left on a plate.
Much like Plum pudding, the origins of the mince pie come from a meat dish, originally known as shrid pies. They were more of an oval shape but were banned by Puritans in the 17th Century. When they returned they were the more rounded shape known today and commonly known as mince pies. By the end of the Vicorian era they no longer contained meat and now in most cases do not contain suet either but use sugar to preserve them. Folklore states that eating at least one mince pie on each of the twelve days of Christmas will ensure a happy, if not fatty, twelve months ahead.

The booze Though many people have their own traditional festive drink many drinks of old were served warm to fight against the cold or induced warmth in the drinker such as gin or whiskey. One of the forerunners of mulled wine was a drink known as lambswool. It contained hot ale, eggs, sugar, cream and spices, crab apples and often toast. Another drink was posset which contained ale or wine together with sugar, hot milk and lemon. This comfort drink, as you may assume, was most likely the forerunner of egg nog.
Enjoy your alcohol, but don't be stupid, this news article has no place for statistics of people killed by drink drivers (or driving) but you all know it increases this time of year. Be merry, drink, feast, but don't overdo any of it, you'll know about it come January.