Christmas Food

[Sundae]

Ooooh!
Looks lovely. I'd eat it as it is, before being contaminated by marzipan and icing

I've come here from the peanut thread, for a bit of reminiscing, because I realised Christmases past were not the same as Christmases present.

I've said before, and no doubt will again - we grew up poor in the 70s. Not dirt poor, not below the poverty line poor, but working class poor, council estate poor. We had a holiday every year, and that was more important than having a car (we hired one to go camping). We shopped on the market, dragging fruit and veg over a mile in a shopping trolley rather than get the bus. We didn't eat out unless Dad's brothers came to see us, and they paid - we didn't have take-aways until I was at least 10 and that was only Mum & Dad as a real treat.

But Christmas... Christmas!
Mum & Dad were part of the church Christmas Hamper group. I didn't realise until years afterwards that some people gave to the fund who didn't actually want a hamper. So although my parents used it as a weekly savings fund (Dad was paid weekly in cash) they effectively got more than they paid in, in goods. For years I remember Christmas really arriving with Father Harris dropping off the hamper. He'd always stay for a cup of tea, but I think he stayed to witness our excitement on opening it. He's still in touch with my parents now.

I can't explain how amazing it was without sounding like I was a starving orphan. We always had enough to eat, but this was pre-packaged food. Food in exciting tins and packets and boxes. Bird's Trifle, fruit cocktail, tinned ham, tinned pineapple, Christmas pudding, shortbread, tinned hotdogs (which no-one ate at the time, but that's another story).

Over Christmas there was another bonanza of food. There was food for the taking, eat what you want. Always nuts out (as previously mentioned) but also sausage rolls - tray after tray of them. Mince pies. sliced turkey - help yourself, even between meals! Leftover roast potatoes - eaten cold in pre-microwave days, but still good. As we grew older there were also leftover fish dishes - prawns, salmon, scampi. All available in the fridge. And Pickles! Pickled onions, red cabbage, piccalilli, beetroot. Cheese! Always big cheese eaters, we excelled ourselves at Christmas - Stilton, Brie, Camenbert, Boursin (well it was the 70s).

The amazing thing - and I can't stress it enough - was that it was all available and you could help yourself. Even bread, which was closely monitored the rest of the year. There were a couple of loaves in the shed (attached to the house, not a spidery thing at the bottom of the garden) where they froze quite effectively before we had a freezer.

It's not the same now of course. You need a certain type of deprivation to glory in gluttony. But it shines in my memory anyway, like a slice of cherry in a fruit cake.