TURKEY

Turkey Meat has always featured at the centre of traditional Christmas feasts, although it is has not always been in the form of turkey.

The act of serving a large roasted joint of meat at Christmas is believed to originate from ancient sacrificial rites to appease the gods and hopefully ensure a sufficient harvest in the following year.

Popular meats used for early celebratory purposes were beef, mutton, pork, peacocks and swans.

King James I can be thanked for the emergence of turkey as he introduced it during the seventeenth century for the important reason that it was far kinder to his delicate digestive system!

Of course not everyone could afford it, and the poor had to make do with goose.