The history behind your Christmas dinner

Turkey, roast potatoes, Christmas pudding, Brussels sprouts – Christmas dinner hasn’t always been this way.

And there is certainly no reason to think it will stay that way in the future.

In this episode of the Table Talk podcast, Stefan Gates delves into the history of the Christmas dinner with food historian Seren Charrington-Hollins.

Seren reveals why Victorian Christmas traditions have endured the longest, how plant-based foods have always played a role in the main festive meal, and she re-visits the once ubiquitous ‘Christmas Kissing Ball’.

And she tries to answer a key question; are current Christmas dinner traditions sustainable in the long-term?

Seren Charrington-Hollins

As a food historian, Seren has been bringing food history to life since 2007. 

She has written countless articles on food and domestic history, has given countless local and national radio interviews, as well as having appeared in a variety of TV programmes and productions. 

Already the published author of “A Dark History of Tea”, she is currently working on her new book ‘A Century of Eating: How our tastes have changed”, which focuses on what has happened to the way we shop and eat in the past century.