Skip to content
TrackPodcasts
artsDec 16, 202128:17pending

An alternative Christmas

The Food Chain

About this episode

What dish says Christmas to you - roast turkey, goat? Carp perhaps? What about fried chicken?

In Japan nothing says ‘festive family food’ more than a bucket of KFC fried chicken. And if you’re Jewish and from the US, a Christmas meal will almost certainly mean a trip to Chinatown.

Ruth Alexander unearths the origin stories of these two unlikely, but incredibly popular, - alternative Christmas food traditions, and finds out how food can help give you a sense of belonging, even if celebrating Christmas isn’t for you.

(Picture: Bucket of fried chicken and bowl of Chinese food. Credit: Getty/BBC)

If you would like to get in touch with the show please email [email protected]

Contributors:

Nina Li Coomes, writer based in Chicago, USA

Rabbi Joshua Plaut, author ‘A Kosher Christmas: ‘Tis the Season to be Kosher’.

Producers: Sarah Stolarz and Simon Tulett

Get every episode summarized

Each time The Food Chain publishes, we email you a written briefing from the transcript — the topics, who appeared, and any specific claims, with the ad reads skipped.

Email me new episodes

Free for 3 shows. No card needed.

No transcript yet

This episode has not been transcribed. Request it and it moves to the front of the queue.

An alternative Christmas

The Food Chain

0:00
28:17

More episodes

More from The Food Chain

View all episodes →