Carve that bird! Dismember that fowl! Another look back at The Stamford Mercury for items about eating at Christmas in December, 1927.
“JUST CARVING
Synonymous though Christmas is with feasting, most children will be satisfied, as will their parents, with an admixture of turkey or goose, pudding, mince-pies, nuts and oranges. Certainly none of those strange dishes which graced our forefathers’ tables will be seen in many households. But no matter the nature of the the joint or bird which we shall eat with relish on Christmas-day – and, perhaps, rue on ‘Boxing-day – the dismemberment of the carcase is invariably referred to as ‘carving.’ We will, in these days of stereotyped production, have none of those weird and fanciful terms which a professional carver would apply to the disintegration of the various delicacies, placed before him on which to work. Father will not ‘disfigure’ a peacock, nor ‘spawl’ a hen, nor ‘break’ a deer, nor ‘rend’ a goose, nor ‘barb’ a lobster, not ‘ally’ a pheasant, nor ‘mince’ a plover. He will just carve, and if you ‘come again’ as you must do on Christmas-day, he will carve again. After all, the food’s the thing.
A BAN ON MINCEMEAT
There was a time in England when the Christmas mince pie was the subject of fierce controversy. The Puritans regarded the making and easting of these delicacies as a superstitious observance savouring of Popery, and Bunyan, when in prison refused to eat them lest he should ‘injure’ his morals. The reason was that the ingredients of the mince-pie, especially the spices, were supposed to have reference to the offering of the Wise Men. The pastry cover was oblong in shape, to represent the creche or manger where Our Savious was born. In the seventeenth century mince-pies were made of meats, tongues, chicken, eggs, sugar, currants, and lemon and orange peel, with various spices.”
The Stamford Mercury, 23rd December, 1927.