ENGLAND'S CHRISTMAS DINNER.
[To the Editor of the SPECTATOR.] wonder what sort of meal the housewives amongst your readers would say was a real British Christmas dinner. Most of them, I imagine, would decide on turkey ; yet the fact is that turkey first came to Great Britain from across the Channel! In France it or a goose with apple sauce is the main Christmas dish ; and in my own Italy we always (when we can afford it) eat turkey and sausages with chestnuts at Christmas time. The plum pudding is certainly British, and it is supreme (as, by the way, is mistletoe 1). The French, instead of Christmas pudding, will accept the poor substitute of an ice ; while in Italy we eat panatone, which is a mixture of eggs, butter, sultanas and flour, baked and eaten cold.
A typical British dinner must, in my opinion, include mast sirloin and plum pudding. And will you let me add that, restaurateur though I am, it is a sacred principle with me that everybody should pass this one day at home ? Perhaps that is because, since the age of nine, I myself have been out in the world earning a am, Sir, &c., MAURO Warn.
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