Why Christmas Turkey?

[Discovering]

Hello, I'd like to ask, why to we eat turkeys at Christmas time? I don't remember any mention of turkeys when Jesus Christ was born, just a donkey and a few other animals.

I'd be really greatful if someone could tell me why we eat this bird at Christmas time, and how it came about.

All help greatly appreciated,

Nadia

[Cetti]

I think you may be taking the Nativity in conjunction with our Christmas dinner just  a bit too literally, as I don't see a plateful of donkey going down too well as an alternative to turkey :-)

 

Across the world this meal is celebrated (or not) with many different meats and foods. Some have goose, chicken or beef etc. and some eat the main meal on Christmas Eve. Having turkey on the menu  is still a somewhat  recent inclusion gaining popularity here from the US  -  in fact during the 1950's and 60's even eating chicken throughout the year was only for the well heeled, saving it just for the Christmas meal. 

 

[Kay]

We never have turkey for Xmas as none of us like it.We have beef,pork and chicken with all the trimmings of course. Last year as my hubby and daughter were working on Xmas day I did a Xmas buffet for a change and we just helped ourselves when we felt like it.

[smudge]

FINA - I'm not too keen on turkey either & wish I could convince my husband & everyone else that chicken would be a better alternative. Our youngest daughter is a vegetarian, so apart from her, everyone else eats it. We usually buy a beef or pork joint too, to eat cold in the evening, boxing day & then minced up for the birds! What a waste, when others in the world are starving.

[Kay]

My sentiments exactly Smudge! We all tend to go crazy and I so hate wasting food so left overs are made into stews frozen and naturally our 2 dogs have more than their fair shair.Every year I say" Im not going mad this year" so why do I always end up skint!  sigh.

[MONKEY123]

turkey didn;t become a christmas tradion till the late 19th centry early 20th before then everybody who had the money would have a roast goose. turkey Became really popular by the posh people who had never had it so out went the goose and in came the exotic turkey and since then evry christmas people have turkey

[booksworth]

I'm glad we're not the only ones to eschew for Christmas. Now it's usually beef. We tried goose: tasted delicious, but the _enormous_ volume of fat it produced became a major issue.