December 20: Eat, Drink and be Merry

Christmas was a time to 'eat, drink and be merry', a time to celebrate and enjoy a little luxury. Those families who could afford a Christmas feast would celebrate it in style with foods like roast goose, turkey or beef, and Brawn and Mustard (roast wild boar with mustard).

Turkey had been eaten at Christmas by some people during Henry VIII's reign, as it was introduced into England in the 1520s, but it had not yet superseded goose which was still the traditional meat of Christmas Day for those who could afford it. In 1588, Elizabeth I ordered the whole of England to eat goose for their Christmas Dinner to celebrate England's victory over the Armada because it was the first meal she ate after the Navy had defeated Spain's ships.

Here are some videos to help you make the perfect roast goose and roast turkey…

And for those of you who are vegetarian (like me), I know these aren’t Tudor, but they’re yummy alternatives: