As Christmas rolls around each year, many families will be wondering what the history is behind this festive tradition
Turkey is one of the most iconic features of a Christmas dinner. For many families, it simply isn’t a Christmas dinner without a turkey. However, most people don’t know where this tradition started, or why it is that turkeys – rather than goose, chicken or beef – are the most popular option on Christmas Day.
Although turkeys aren’t native to the UK, they have been eaten in Britain for hundreds of years. There is documentation of turkeys being imported into the UK in the early 16th century, and Henry VIII was apparently the first British monarch to enjoy turkey on Christmas day. However, it took over 400 years for the turkey to go from a specialty, luxury item to the most popular festive centrepiece across the UK.
Turkey’s modern popularity is often a source of stress. Although a huge roast turkey is something of a showstopper, they are infamously difficult to cook. Turkeys’ huge size – in part natural, and in part due to centuries of careful breeding – makes them difficult to cook through without drying out. Many families choose to purchase a turkey crown, which is smaller and easier to cook more evenly than a full turkey. However, turkey crowns are even more expensive than turkeys. It speaks to the popularity of turkey in Britain that shoppers are willing to spend, per kilogram, twice the amount that they would on a whole turkey on a turkey crown in order to make sure that they still have some form of turkey on their Christmas table.
For many of us Christmas dinner just wouldn’t be the same without a golden roasted turkey taking center stage on the table. But have you ever wondered why this particular bird ended up being so closely associated with the holiday?
Turkeys may seem like a natural fit for Christmas now, but they weren’t always the star of the show In fact, the tradition of eating turkey on December 25th is less than 200 years old So how did it come to dominate Christmas dinners in the UK, US and other parts of the world? Let’s take a look back through history to uncover the origins of eating turkey on Christmas.
While turkeys are native to North America, they were introduced to Europe by Spanish explorers who brought them back from Mexico in the 16th century. One of the first people in England to enjoy this exotic new delicacy was the infamous King Henry VIII.
As early as 1524, Henry VIII chose to eat turkey instead of the traditional goose for his Christmas meal. His penchant for lavish banquets meant turkey was often on the royal menu after that, served alongside swans, peacocks and other elaborate dishes.
So Henry VIII certainly played a part in introducing turkey to England But it was still considered very exotic at the time and didn’t immediately replace goose as the Christmas dinner centerpiece That transition took a few more centuries,
Victorian Turkey Takes Off
By the Victorian era in the 1800s, turkey was rising in popularity and even featured in Charles Dickens’ 1843 novel A Christmas Carol. But it was still only served in wealthier households.
The real turkey takeover came when Queen Victoria and Prince Albert adopted the tradition. As the royal couple, their choices had an outsized influence on dining fashions and consumer habits.
Queen Victoria was especially fond of turkey, preferring it to goose according to her diaries. So when the royal family switched to turkey in the mid-1800s, its destiny as the Christmas dinner meat was sealed. By the late 1800s, turkey had overtaken goose as the favorite festive fowl for British households rich and poor alike.
Turkey Crosses the Atlantic
Meanwhile, English settlers had brought domesticated turkeys with them to America as early as the 17th century. So the birds were already firmly entrenched in the New World by the time turkey became trendy back in England.
As Christmas celebrations caught on in America, turkey became standard holiday fare. Just like in Britain, goose used to be the more common Christmas protein. But as turkey grew in popularity across the Atlantic, it claimed the spotlight here too.
By the early 1900s, roast turkey was a holiday staple across both sides of the pond. The American turkey industry expanded rapidly to meet demand. Today the U.S. produces over 6 billion pounds of turkey every year!
Why Is Turkey So Popular for Christmas?
Clearly, historical royal approval played a major role in promoting turkey as the go-to Christmas dish. But why did it overtake goose and other meats like beef or ham in the first place?
Here are some of the advantages that helped turkey achieve holiday meal dominance:
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Size – Turkeys are bigger birds that can feed a crowd, which makes them perfect for lavish Christmas feasts. A turkey can serve 10+ people easily.
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Affordability – As turkey farming scaled up, prices dropped making it affordable for working class Victorian families. Goose remained expensive.
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Versatility – Turkey’s mild taste works well with all the traditional trimmings like stuffing and cranberry sauce. Its white meat is versatile too.
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Christmas symbolism – Turkeys are said to represent generosity, goodwill and abundance. Their large size evokes images of a bountiful Christmas feast.
So a mix of royal tradition, farming innovations and fortuitous symbolism helped cement turkey’s place at the Christmas table. Though goose may seem old-fashioned now, the turkey’s reign is actually quite recent in historical terms. Understanding its history helps us appreciate how this New World bird became an indispensable part of our age-old holiday.
What did we eat before turkey on Christmas day?
For much of British history, food eaten at Christmas was very similar to food eaten at other feasts and celebrations. Medieval monks would celebrate by spending money on rare and expensive spices, to add to their pies, fish and offal. Before the arrival of turkey, boar was a particularly popular option. Stuffed boar’s heads were served as a Christmas centrepiece in England from the medieval period right up until Tudor times. In the medieval period, pottage – a thick stew – would be served in a trencher in wealthy households at special occasions, including Christmas. A trencher was a hollowed out loaf of stale bread which would be filled with pottage or other meaty stews.
After the turkey was introduced to the UK it grew in popularity as a Christmas meat. By the Georgian era turkey was almost as popular as goose, and would be eaten at Christmas quite frequently. However, it wasn’t until the Victorian era when turkey finally began to become the most eaten meat at Christmas. Charles Dickens’ A Christmas Carol famously features Scrooge asking a poor homeless child to help him buy Bob Cratchit ‘the prize turkey’ hanging in the window of the butcher’s. Cassell’s Dictionary of Cookery from 1883 notes that ‘The turkey is highly esteemed and usually commands a high price, especially at Christmas, when most extravagant prices are often demanded and obtained for large, well-fed birds.’ Turkeys were also used as part of ‘Christmas Pie’, an intricate dish first popularised in the Georgian era. This extravagant dish involved stuffing a pigeon inside a chicken, which was then stuffed inside a turkey, which was then stuffed inside a goose. This ‘turducken’ style pie remained popular well into the Victorian era.
Where do turkeys come from?
Turkeys, it may not surprise you to hear, are not native to the UK. They arrived in the UK in the early sixteenth century, around 1524 according to the Chronicle of the Kings of England. British merchants bought them from Spanish conquistadors who brought the birds back from Mexico, where they had been domesticated from the wild species over many years by indigenous Mexicans. The Norfolk Black turkey breed is thought to be directly descended from this early turkey breed. The Norfolk Black was bred in the UK for over 200 years, before eventually being transported back to the Americas with European colonists. However, the breed has gradually declined in popularity, and is now relatively rare in both the UK and the USA. Although in the 16th century turkey was very expensive, as turkey farms spread across the UK eating turkey at Christmas took off in popularity. But, it wasn’t until the 19th century that turkey became the standard Christmas dinner fare for families around the UK.
Why do we eat turkey for Christmas (and Thanksgiving)? | Episode 8 | BBC Ideas
FAQ
Why turkey is a symbol for Christmas?
What is the fact about turkey at Christmas?
Why do Americans eat turkey on Thanksgiving and Christmas?
Does everyone eat turkey at Christmas?
Why do people eat turkey on Christmas Day?
For many families, it simply isn’t a Christmas dinner without a turkey. However, most people don’t know where this tradition started, or why it is that turkeys – rather than goose, chicken or beef – are the most popular option on Christmas Day. Although turkeys aren’t native to the UK, they have been eaten in Britain for hundreds of years.
When did Turkey become a popular Christmas meal?
Throughout the 1500s-1800s, turkey slowly became a more and more popular Christmas meal in wealthier British households, with the British royal family even switching to turkey in the 1850s (replacing their traditional choice of roasted swan).
Why do people eat turkey?
For centuries the turkey was the preserve of the well-to-do and middle classes and it was only after the Second World War, when it became cheaper to rear, that the turkey became the population’s Christmas bird of choice. They’re also the food of choice for Thanksgiving dinners in the USA. What was eaten before turkey?
Do people eat turkey on Christmas Day in the UK?
Although turkey is seen as synonymous with Christmas, it is actually less common in the UK than you might expect. A recent YouGov poll found that only half of respondents typically ate turkey on Christmas day – that’s fewer than the number who ate sprouts. Turkey was most popular in the midlands and Wales, and least popular in London.