Main content

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/BBC)

If you would like to get in touch with the show please email [email protected]

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

Available now

28 minutes

Last on

Sun 19 Dec 202108:32GMT
BBC World Service except Europe and the Middle East

More episodes

Previous

(Film) Set menu

Next

Why I chose to live on rations

See all episodes from The Food Chain

Broadcasts

  • Thu 16 Dec 202104:32GMT
    BBC World Service except Australasia, East Asia & South Asia
  • Thu 16 Dec 202105:32GMT
    BBC World Service Australasia, South Asia & East Asia only
  • Thu 16 Dec 202111:32GMT
    BBC World Service
  • Thu 16 Dec 202121:32GMT
    BBC World Service East and Southern Africa & West and Central Africa only
  • Thu 16 Dec 202123:32GMT
    BBC World Service except East and Southern Africa & West and Central Africa
  • Sun 19 Dec 202108:32GMT
    BBC World Service except Europe and the Middle East

Food Chain highlights

Food Chain highlights

Tea, coffee, spices, chillies ... snack on a selection of programme highlights

Podcast