[:en]So what will you be eating this Festive Season? Thanksgiving has come and gone, or “Turkey Day” as one of my American friends called it recently. Probably the most traditional festive lunch in the UK is still turkey, which not that long ago was considered as very much a luxury food item. Of course, these days it is much more widely available, and therefore consumers are always looking for something a bit more ‘luxurious’ to spice up this special time of year. An alternative that crops up more frequently now are the stuffed poultry variations, such as ‘turducken’ (turkey stuffed with duck and chicken). This idea, however, is not something new – in the 19th century the practice of using almost any combination of bird, stuffed one inside another, was not uncommon on the well-to-do dining tables of Europe. Anyway, as always, I digress a bit.

My point is that at this time of year we probably eat more than we should, and treat ourselves to foods and dishes that we wouldn’t normally eat during the rest of the year. For example, the British eat traditional festive desserts that can be pretty stodgy and probably quite unhealthy, consisting of heavy, almost black, treacly, steamed fruit puddings followed by equally heavy, black fruit cakes. They can feel like lead weights even before they enter the stomach!

One of my own little treats (not especially associated with the festive period), is the British pork pie. Pork pie is a traditional meat pie consisting of roughly chopped pork sealed in a hot water crust pastry, and can be eaten cold as a snack or perhaps as part of a meal. As you might imagine such ‘specialist’ food items are impossible to find in Spain, and there is no Spanish equivalent that I can eat as an alternative. The only option therefore, is to make them myself. It’s a labour of love, but in my opinion, worth the effort…. My own personal Christmas treat![:es]So what will you be eating this Festive Season? Thanksgiving has come and gone, or “Turkey Day” as one of my American friends called it recently. Probably the most traditional festive lunch in the UK is still turkey, which not that long ago was considered as very much a luxury food item. Of course, these days it is much more widely available, and therefore consumers are always looking for something a bit more ‘luxurious’ to spice up this special time of year. An alternative that crops up more frequently now are the stuffed poultry variations, such as ‘turducken’ (turkey stuffed with duck and chicken). This idea, however, is not something new – in the 19th century the practice of using almost any combination of bird, stuffed one inside another, was not uncommon on the well-to-do dining tables of Europe. Anyway, as always, I digress a bit.

My point is that at this time of year we probably eat more than we should, and treat ourselves to foods and dishes that we wouldn’t normally eat during the rest of the year. For example, the British eat traditional festive desserts that can be pretty stodgy and probably quite unhealthy, consisting of heavy, almost black, treacly, steamed fruit puddings followed by equally heavy, black fruit cakes. They can feel like lead weights even before they enter the stomach!

One of my own little treats (not especially associated with the festive period), is the British pork pie. Pork pie is a traditional meat pie consisting of roughly chopped pork sealed in a hot water crust pastry, and can be eaten cold as a snack or perhaps as part of a meal. As you might imagine such ‘specialist’ food items are impossible to find in Spain, and there is no Spanish equivalent that I can eat as an alternative. The only option therefore, is to make them myself. It’s a labour of love, but in my opinion, worth the effort…. My own personal Christmas treat!

 [:]