8 Fun Holiday Food Facts
Looking for some interesting tidbits to share around your holiday table this year? We’ve got you covered with some of our favorite food facts this season. Start some laughs or spark a conversation with these 6 sure-to-please truths.
1. Candy canes were meant for quiet time.
Candy canes were invented to help keep children quiet during church. A German choirmaster commissioned the shepherd’s hook shaped candy in 1670 to hush up the children in the church’s crèche scene. The traditional stripes came later.
2. Long live the fruitcake!
These interesting cakes were originally intended to be baked at the end of the harvest season and eaten at the beginning of the next. Thanks to the preservative properties of the sugar and booze they contain, fruitcake can last for a long time without going bad!
3. Turkey wasn’t always the star of the show!
Back in Medieval Times, the preferred poultry was actually PEACOCK! Boar was also a Christmas mainstay. It wasn’t until Henry VIII had turkey for Christmas in the sixteenth century that it became the norm.
4. Eggnog, the drink of the nobles.
Eggnog, or crow’s milk, is a Holiday alcoholic beverage that was borne from English aristocrats. The first eggnog was sipped in 1607 in the British colony of Jamestown, Virginia. We’ll raise a glass to that!
5. Cranberries are not berry popular.
In the US the sauce tends to be very sweet while in Europe it is a much tarter affair. Despite it being ever present with turkey, it turns out that many Americans actually detest it. One poll saw that 29% of Americans hate cranberry sauce, but eat it anyway.
6. Holiday dinners can be 7,000+ calories!
Between the wine, mixed nuts, multiple helpings of turkey and sides, pie, cheese and booze, the eating and drinking done during a Holiday dinner can add up to more than 7,000 calories per person! We think we’ll skip that second piece of pie.
7. Caught! The masquerading plum.
Sugar Plums are not actually plums. In the 1600s the term “plum” meant any type of dried fruit. Standard sugar plums are a combination of dried fruit and spices coated with sugar.
8. That’s a lot of turkey!
According to the USDA, every year an average of 22 MILLION turkeys grace Holiday tables nationwide. While that seems like a high number, there are actually 7.3 BILLION shrimp enjoyed across 46 MILLION holiday parties in the US alone.
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