Every culture has their own version of a Christmas story. Also, like most cultures, it involves food. Didn't you know that there's a story behind the innocent candy cane? Like other places in the world that celebrates the festive Holiday Season, the United States has its own fair share of weird and strange background stories.
Let's start off with the peppermint treat - Candy canes. This Christmas treat was meant to keep children quiet. Why? Christmas is all about relatives and family coming together and that includes infants as young as one to eight years old that keeps on screaming. Candy canes can certainly quiet them down.
Are you envisioning sugar plums dancing in children's heads? Sugar plums are not literally plums. They're candy. Historically, "plum" is associated with any dried fruit and sugar plums meant it's a mix of dried fruit and sugar (with the occassional flavorful spices). Rolled into balls and coated in hard candy, it's a sweet and sometimes healthy treat for kids and adults.
Animal crackers weren't originally meant to be eaten - first. It was meant to be as a Christmas tree decoration. The string you find on the box? You can use that to hang the product on the tree. And after that you can open the box and eat it with your favorite chocolate dip. Or maybe be romantic with your partner and play that scene in Armageddon.
Do you love fruit cake? Most people don't. Because it can strangely survive the whole year without spoiling. Thing is, it's meant to survive the whole year. The tons of preservatives and sugar and alcohol in them is enough to feel festive the whole year round.
Ever had mince pie? Here's a factoid for you, mince pie was first made with a Jesus effigy. The first mince pies were made in the midieval period and didn't have pie crusts. Eventually, when crusts were added a topping of a baby Jesus was laid on top.
Turkey may be the roast for Christmas and Thanksgiving but it wasn't in ye olden days. The glorious peacock was the center of the table. That's right, the royalty-feathered poultry was meat for the holidays back then. Thankfully, Henry VIII changed our minds when he decided on turkey for Christmas.
Most people love to roast on Christmas but Australians love to grill. Think about it, it's too hot in the land down under and they'd rather cook their food on the spot than fill their houses with the hot oven heat, as posted online.
And lastly, for diet enthusiasts out there, you'd think Christmas contains about 7,000 calories. and you're right about that! So if you'd like to do some food swaps, you can take a look at our Food World News tips.