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Saturday, December 24, 2005

Comments

Ran

Joi Ito posted this explanation for the Christmas KFC tradition on his blog: "When my friend Shin, introduced KFC to Japan, the ad campaign showed wealthy American families all eating friend chicken for their holiday feast. KFC was marketed as an upscale food of the privileged in America. This triggered a tradition in Japan for families to eat friend chicken on Christmas."

This kind of corporate revisionism for foreign markets isn't uncommon. For example , Foster's markets itself worldwide as the quintessential Austrailian beer, though it's actually unpopular in Austrialia and is brewed in Canada for the American market.

Dave77

Cool, I like the tower cam. :)

Never had any of the cakes shown, sorry. Might be a british or generally European tradition? I remember seeing a couple somewhat fancy holiday cakes in the bakery near here, however, so someone here in the states celibrates with them at least.

For Christmas with my family, we always have pretty much the same meal as thanksgiving LOL. Turkey, yams, homemade biscuits, mashed potatoes, stuffing, etc. For dessert: cherry or apple pie and every couple of years, maybe pumpkin. We also have a cake, but nothing fancy. Its usually walnut cake (ground black walnuts), home cooked by my mom (since we eat together for the holidays) if not walnut then a simple three layered chocolate cake. We do get fruit cakes but only my parents enjoy them. I for one am not a fan.

Thanks for the interesting reading. :)

Mari

Hi there
Hmm UK has cake and in the US, it is not common. Very interesting, you know I have belived in cake would be common in my life. So this is so big news for me.

Claire

Some people have fruitcake--my dad used to bake it from scratch, and it was delicious. Some have pie--pumpkin, pecan, sweet potato, mincemeat (made of raisins and apples, not meat) are common. Some have cookies-- gingerbread, sugar cookies, and many traditional recipes that are made only at this time of year. Others eat fudge and other candy (such as candy canes). Many people enjoy some of everything as they visit others during the holiday season.

A few people have "birthday cake" for Jesus on Christmas Day, but this is not too common, it's more to help children learn the religious lesson behind Christmas.

Happy holidays to all, no matter what you celebrate.

David

The Christmas cakes are lovely, but I must agree that they are not common in the west. In the States, pie is much more common at Christmas. Often pumpkin pie.

coder.keitaro

Hi Mari

In the UK it is also traditional to have cake at Christmas.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Christmas_cake
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Christmas_pudding

We also traditionally have Roast Turkey at this time.
[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Christmas_dishes#United_Kingdom]

Most of the food tends to be cooked by the mother of the house, who slaves for days to make the day 'special' for all the family.

The day after Christmas is called Boxing Day in the UK, and traditionally we eat whatever food was left over from Christmas day. orz

Have a great xmas!
Keitaro

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