Non-Traditional Holiday Dinner: Permission to Change the Menu

A Little Discovery | Holiday State of Mind

When Did Holiday Dinner Become a Production?

Who decided the holidays require a menu with side dishes that have their own side dishes?

The turkey. The stuffing. The potatoes. The other potatoes. That one casserole nobody likes, but aunt Betty has been making it since 1987, so it's tradition now. And don't forget dessert.

Somewhere along the way, the holiday menu became a production. Maybe it’s time for a non-traditional holiday dinner.

Here’s a little discovery: traditions don’t have to stay the same to be worth keeping.

Japan Made KFC a Non-Traditional Holiday Dinner

In Japan, ordering KFC for Christmas became a holiday tradition. Yes, fried chicken. A clever advertising campaign in the 1970s turned an ordinary takeout dinner into something families began looking forward to each December. There's a whole story behind that bucket. We'll get to it in an upcoming Postcard. (Wink.)

Which raises a perfectly reasonable question. If fried chicken can become a Christmas tradition, why are we so worried about changing the mashed potatoes?

Easy Ways to Change Your Holiday Menu

Borrow a tradition. Make something inspired by a place you’ve visited or a dish you discovered on vacation. Maybe this is the year lasagna joins the holiday table. In Italy, Christmas Eve means the Feast of the Seven Fishes. In Puerto Rico, the holidays come with coquito, the creamy coconut drink that gets passed around and shared. An alternative Christmas dinner might be one other people have been enjoying for generations.

Order the main event. Pick up the meat, the sides, or the whole dinner. Use the extra time for something more interesting than washing roasting pans. Stress-free holiday hosting often starts with deciding what you don’t have to make.

Keep the favorite. Skip the obligation. Ask everyone which holiday dish they’d actually miss. You might discover that nobody remembers why you’re making the green bean casserole.

The best holiday traditions aren’t necessarily the oldest. Sometimes they’re the ones everyone wants to do again.

Will there be a new dish on your holiday table this year? Tell me in the comments.