An alternative 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 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