An alternative Christmas
Japan's love affair with festive fried chicken and the story of a very Chinese Jewish Christmas.
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/91Èȱ¬)
If you would like to get in touch with the show please email thefoodchain@bbc.co.uk
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
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- Thu 16 Dec 2021 04:32GMT91Èȱ¬ World Service except Australasia, East Asia & South Asia
- Thu 16 Dec 2021 05:32GMT91Èȱ¬ World Service Australasia, South Asia & East Asia only
- Thu 16 Dec 2021 11:32GMT91Èȱ¬ World Service
- Thu 16 Dec 2021 21:32GMT91Èȱ¬ World Service East and Southern Africa & West and Central Africa only
- Thu 16 Dec 2021 23:32GMT91Èȱ¬ World Service except East and Southern Africa & West and Central Africa
- Sun 19 Dec 2021 08:32GMT91Èȱ¬ World Service except Europe and the Middle East
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