Asparagus served up on Christmas Day traditionally means you are rich, according to a boffin.
Food historian, Annie Gray, says the long vegetable was a sign of wealth.
The odd addition was used by hosts wanting to show off their riches.
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She said: “Asparagus is, to our eyes, an odd one.
“Essentially, this is about showing your wealth, for asparagus needed to be forced, using hotbeds, and so was only open to the wealthy.”
Annie also revealed that Christmas traditionalists could scrap turkey for more authentic British meat, like beef.
She revealed the tips in her book ‘At Christmas We Feast: Festive Food through the Ages’.
Specialising in history from 1600 to the present day, Annie has looked in depth at what made up our Christmas dinner from medieval times to now.
It turns out Brits were opting for beef back in the day when settling down for a feast on Christmas day.
It was seen as the meat to eat when celebrating, being a symbol for all things British.
Turkey wasn’t introduced until the 1520s, an exotic import from the Americas.
The meat that we now know as the traditional main of a Christmas dinner, didn’t become the popular choice until the 20th century.
Despite her love of history, Annie also believes that we could opt for what we fancy instead of what we ‘should’ be eating at Christmas.
Annie Gray told What’s The Jam: “By the end of the seventeenth century, beef was a real symbol of Englishness.
“And Britain as a whole was often represented by the figure of John Bull as a butcher versus, for example, emaciated French men eating frogs’ legs.
“Most people couldn’t afford to eat any meat regularly, let alone beef, so it was also prestigious.
“It was the meat for celebrations – not just Christmas, but big, community events like coronation feasts.
“Plum pudding was also a symbol of Britishness, regarded as a bit weird by other nations.
“The two things went together both symbolically and practically – think of the pudding like a chutney, complementing the heft of the beef.
“Turkey was introduced from the Americas in the 1520s.
“It was easily domesticated and somewhat tastier than some of the other big feast birds – things like peacock and swan.
“It was also in season over winter, for that reason it became associated with Christmas.
“It was very popular, especially associated with the middle classes by the Victorian era, but never had the prestige of beef.
“It didn’t become the main meat of choice until meals reduced in size in the twentieth century, while ovens got bigger.
“All of those films featuring glistening Thanksgiving turkeys didn’t do any harm, either.
“’We could do with letting go of should and must and just eat what we fancy.
“Too many of our modern notions of tradition seem to just cause stress and angst to whoever is in charge of the cooking.
“The most enduring Christmas food tradition is simply one of having food you love but might not normally eat through price or accessibility – a treat to yourself and anyone else you want to invite to share it.”
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