Confession: I’ve got a few hang-ups about Christmas.
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I’m no Grinch – I like a pile of presents and a family get-together as much as the next person (wait, not everybody likes family get-togethers?) – but there’s one thing about the festive season that really sticks in my craw.
It’s the food.
There’s so much to hate about traditional Christmas food that I hardly know where to start.
I hate that it’s completely unseasonal. Everybody stop and take a memo – we do not live in the northern hemisphere. Got it?
It’s summer!
We don’t need to eat dried up bits of fruit in our cake – we have the real things hanging on trees, bursting with goodness and sunshine.
We don’t need to eat a lump of preserved pig. We have a sea overflowing with fresh seafood.
And why roast wintery root vegetables when you can make a garden-fresh salad, literally, fresh from your garden?
The less said about a leathery, old turkey the better.
I also hate the predictability of the food. I’ve never really liked being told what to eat (sorry Mum), so the blanket mince tart order for every Christmas event lacks some necessary variety, in my opinion.
Break with tradition. Make a cherry tart instead! They’re in season.
What else? I hate using the oven in the summer heat. I hate eating rich, heavy food in the summer heat. I hate eating hot food in the summer heat.
It’s starting to sound like I actually hate the summer heat, which couldn’t be further from the truth. I just want my lunch to match the weather.
I know that some people like to have special food they only eat at certain times (I don’t really understand it – if you like it, just eat it whenever – but I acknowledge it).
But that special food should reflect our own seasons and lifestyles, not ape those of foreign lands.
Here’s cheers – with a glass of cold moscato – to that.