Why do people eat turkey at Christmas? The origins of the traditional Christmas meal

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Why turkey? Why do we in the Anglo-Saxon world devote our most cherished family holiday to a bird that is not in the least bit popular for the other 364 days of the year? Well, we'll get to that. For now, let's just celebrate the Christmas turkey, a long-standing tradition in the United Kingdom that has been faithfully reproduced in many of its former colonies. This traditional feast on December 25, as we know, features a well-roasted bird, paired with the likes of roast potatoes and other root vegetables, stuffing, Yorkshire puddings, possibly a green vegetable or two, cranberry sauce, and gravy over the whole lot. Christmas pudding is on the way later.

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The turkey isn't native to the United Kingdom, which is why up until the 16th century British families with the means would usually eat goose at Christmas time. However, by the 1500s turkeys had been brought back from the Americas by erstwhile explorers, and the trend to eat them at Christmas gradually took hold, to the point where the British royal family made the switch to turkey – from their preferred bird, the swan – in the 1850s.

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Those who find themselves in London on Christmas Day with nowhere else to go can sample a traditional turkey lunch at a number of fine restaurants, highlighted by Dinner by Heston in Knightsbridge (dinnerbyheston.co.uk).

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Sydneysiders, sit down to a very fancy roast turkey with all sorts of extras on December 25 at The Gantry in Dawes Point (thegantry.com.au). In Melbourne, tuck into a lovely Christmas lunch at Brighton Savoy (brightonsavoy.com.au).

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