Origins of Popular Christmas Foods

Christmas meals and special Christmas sweets are common in Singapore and enjoyed by many whether they are celebrating the religious day or not. Log cakes, gingerbread and turkey are well accepted as part of the festive traditions, but do you know the origins of the popular Christmas foods?

Yule Log Cake

HISTORY traces the root of the Christmas Yule Log all the way back to Europe’s Iron Age. Celtic Brits would burn huge logs decorated with holly, pinecones or ivy to celebrate the winter solstice. With the spread of Christianity in Europe, the tradition continued as part of the Christmas celebration. As houses and fireplaces got smaller, burning a giant log became harder and at some point someone decided to bake a cake in the shape of a log instead of burning a real one. Parisian bakers popularized the Yule logs (or bûche de Noël) in the 19th century.

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Candy Canes

The Smithsonian Magazine says there are a lot of explanations floating around out there about the candy cane – but almost none of them are true. Sugar, once a precious and expensive commodity, was typically reserved for holidays like Christmas. White straight candy sticks were quite common at Christmas. One story says that the choirmaster at Cologne Cathedral, wishing to remedy the noise caused by children in his church during the Christmas Eve service, asked a local candy maker for some “sugar sticks” for the children. In order to justify the practice of giving candy to children during church services, he asked the candy maker to add a crook to the top of each stick, which would help children remember the nativity story which described shepherds visiting the baby Jesus.

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Gingerbread

A Guardian article explains that Queen Elizabeth I is credited with the idea of decorating gingerbread when she had some made to resemble the dignitaries visiting her court. Gingerbread, sometimes gilded with gold leaf, shaped like animals, kings and queens became a staple at Medieval fairs in Europe. Around that time, gingerbread houses were made popular by The Brothers Grimm who wrote the story of Hansel and Gretel. Families preparing for Christmas found that making decorative gingerbread was something the young and the old could do together. Elaborate gingerbread houses, decorated with foil in addition to gold leaf, became associated with Christmas.

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Eggnog

Eggnog, as we know it today, is a variation of milk and wine-based English punches that date back to at least the 17th century. According to TIME, most agree eggnog originated from the early medieval Britain “posset” (a hot, milky ale-like drink) and by the 13th century monks were known to drink a posset with eggs and figs. Milk, eggs, and sherry were foods of the wealthy, so eggnog was often used in toasts to prosperity and good health. During the 1700s, when American colonists began drinking it, they started adding rum. By the 1800s, eggnog had gone from a wintertime drink to a treat that was part of the Christmas tradition.

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Turkey

One of the most popular Christmas foods must be the turkey but it was a relatively recent introduction to the Christmas meal. Traditionally, a goose was eaten for special occasions because farmers were reluctant to slaughter their cows and chickens as they could produce milk and eggs respectively throughout the year. Geese only laid eggs seasonally, so they were fattened up and eaten during festive celebrations. BBC said that roast turkey replaced the goose as the centrepiece of the Christmas dinner in wealthier homes of Victorian Britain only in the 19th century. The turkey’s perfect size for a middle class family gathering meant it became the dominant dish by the beginning of the 20th century.

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The Ordinary Patrons | Real Dining Experience of Ordinary People
an independent Singapore food blog