Wednesday 19 December 2012

Why Do We Eat Turkey on Christmas Day?


Christmas Turkey
Christmas is full of old traditions, like eating turkey on Christmas day, sending out Christmas cards, hanging tinsel around the house... but why do we do it and how did it originate?

Turkeys were first bought into Britain in 1526, before this time, for Christmas meals people used to eat geese, boars' head and even peacocks.

Turkeys were eaten instead of cows and chickens because the farmers needed their cows more for their milk, and needed their chickens for the eggs, which back then were more expensive than they are today. So instead of killing off one of their livestock for Christmas, they'd have a turkey as it was something different and they could save their livestock to produce more milk and eggs.

Henry VIII was the first person to eat a turkey on Christmas Day, however it wasn't until the 1950's that the turkey was a more popular Christmas meal choice than the goose.

The good thing about Christmas Day and turkeys is that Christmas is a family time, and turkeys are family size!

87% of British people believe that Christmas would not be the same without a traditional roast turkey.

Today in the UK, we eat around 10 million turkeys every year for Christmas time.

25% of British people buy their turkeys months in advance.

A survey shows that the top three most popular ways to serve leftover Christmas turkey are: sandwiches, soups/stews or salads.

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