# goose for Christmas?
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/goose-for-christmas/5200
**Category:** Factual Questions
**Created:** [December 7, 1999, 3:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/goose-for-christmas/5200 "1999-12-07T15:38:00Z")
**Posts on this page:** 15
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@KissThis](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/KissThis)
#### Post date: [December 7, 1999, 3:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/goose-for-christmas/5200/1 "1999-12-07T15:38:00Z")
We here in the south do not eat goose ( that I know of) for christmas dinner. Mostly ham turkey etc… Is eating goose a tradition anywhere? I’ve read poems, stories and songs that talk about "The goose being on the table."I don’t even think that I have tasted goose before. Doesn’t sound to delicious either…just honk if you know an answer…
…
I met a man the other day who said he would do anything for $50.00. I said “ok paint my house.”
Henny Youngman
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### Author:  [@AWB](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AWB)
#### Post date: [December 7, 1999, 4:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/goose-for-christmas/5200/2 "1999-12-07T16:07:00Z")
\HONK\ 🙂
Goose is a dark fowl meat. I think it tastes like duck, if you’ve ever had that.
Others have told me that they think it tastes “gamey”, but I think it’s just fine.
We sometimes had Cornish Game Hens for the holidays. Each person had a little bird all to their own. I loved them, but unfortunately (after trying it) my wife doesn’t.
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### Author:  [@UncleBeer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/UncleBeer)
#### Post date: [December 7, 1999, 4:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/goose-for-christmas/5200/3 "1999-12-07T16:11:00Z")
Goose tastes like a militant duck, much the same way they behave. Odd, no? I don’t really care for goose, but there ain’t nuthin’ like a nice crispy-skinned roast duck, cooked medium.
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“Some people are worried about the difference between right and wrong. I’m worried about the difference between wrong and fun.”
~P.J. O’Rourke~
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### Author:  [@HeyHomie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HeyHomie)
#### Post date: [December 7, 1999, 4:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/goose-for-christmas/5200/4 "1999-12-07T16:22:00Z")
As I understand it, our British forebearers have been eating goose at Christmas (and, presumably, other special occasions) since time immemorial. However, I read somewhere that nowadays turkey is overtaking goose as the popular bird of Xmas in the UK.
Anybody see the new “Christmas Carol” on TNT Sunday night? Near the end, where Scrooge is supposed to send that little boy after a big goose, Patrick Stewart sent him after a turkey! I guess TNT figured that a turkey would make more sense to an American audience.
I’ve never seen goose in any grocery store that I’ve ever been to, even though geese are abundant in these parts.
And call me ignorant, but are turkeys indigenous to Europe? Wouldn’t the Brits have to import them from the US?
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### Author:  [@Ukulele\_Ike](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ukulele_Ike)
#### Post date: [December 7, 1999, 4:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/goose-for-christmas/5200/5 "1999-12-07T16:32:00Z")
Nah, it was a turkey in the novel(la).
I, for one, am planning on a standing rib roast of beef for my holiday dinner. Although I’ve done turkey and duck in the past, I cannot convince the relatives to ingest goose.
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Uke
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### Author:  [@HeyHomie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HeyHomie)
#### Post date: [December 7, 1999, 4:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/goose-for-christmas/5200/6 "1999-12-07T16:36:00Z")
From the Microsoft Encarta Encylopedia:
It was originally domesticated in Mexico, and was brought into Europe early in the 16th century.
“Turkey (bird),” Microsoft® Encarta® Encyclopedia 99. © 1993-1998 Microsoft Corporation. All rights reserved.
Looks like I answered my own question!
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### Author:  [@Arnold\_Winkelried](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Arnold_Winkelried)
#### Post date: [December 8, 1999, 6:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/goose-for-christmas/5200/7 "1999-12-08T06:38:00Z")
So why was it a “prize turkey, twice the size of Tiny Tim” in the novel, instead of a goose? Was that because turkeys were more expensive, and thus showed off the new-found generosity of Scrooge?
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La franchise ne consiste pas à dire tout ce que l’on pense, mais à penser tout ce que l’on dit.
H. de Livry
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### Author:  [@Guy\_Propski](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Guy_Propski)
#### Post date: [December 8, 1999, 6:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/goose-for-christmas/5200/8 "1999-12-08T06:50:00Z")
I think it’s because the largest bird in the window happened to be a turkey, that’s all. Remember, in the vision from the Ghost of Christmas Present, the Cratchits are eating a goose.
One reason diners may be switching over to turkey is that cooking a turkey is a lot easier than cooking a goose. A cooking goose gives off tremendous amounts of rendered fat, much more than a turkey. Goose grease is also very slippery; spill some on the floor and you’ll be cleaning it up for months.
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### Author:  [@torq](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/torq)
#### Post date: [December 8, 1999, 6:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/goose-for-christmas/5200/9 "1999-12-08T06:59:00Z")
Well, I’ve had goose. It’s not really a “tradition”, but one year my dad decided that he was going to smoke a goose for either Christmas or Thanksgiving (maybe both, I don’t remember for certain).
Smoked goose is very good; it’s got a slightly stronger flavor than turkey, but that’s not necessarily a bad thing.
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### Author:  [@Earl\_Snake-Hips\_Tucker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Earl_Snake-Hips_Tucker)
#### Post date: [December 7, 1999, 7:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/goose-for-christmas/5200/10 "1999-12-07T19:04:00Z")
Speaking of turkey, if you have an opportunity, try some fried turkey sometime.
My sister fried one for Thanksgiving. It was without a doubt the **best** turkey I’ve ever had.
I kinda wish we could try it out on a goose to see how that is.
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### Author:  [@UncleBeer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/UncleBeer)
#### Post date: [December 7, 1999, 7:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/goose-for-christmas/5200/11 "1999-12-07T19:36:00Z")
Turducken!
[http://www.gumbopages.com/food/poultry/turducken.html](http://www.gumbopages.com/food/poultry/turducken.html)
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“Some people are worried about the difference between right and wrong. I’m worried about the difference between wrong and fun.”
~P.J. O’Rourke~
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### Author:  [@HeyHomie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HeyHomie)
#### Post date: [December 8, 1999, 6:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/goose-for-christmas/5200/12 "1999-12-08T06:34:00Z")
OK OK OK, I guess my memory was cloudy. I had always thought that Scrooge sent that little boy after a goose and that TNT had changed it to a turkey, but I guess it was a turkey all along. Forgive me.
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### Author:  [@putrid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/putrid)
#### Post date: [December 8, 1999, 7:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/goose-for-christmas/5200/13 "1999-12-08T07:27:00Z")
'Don’t know about tradition but I have roasted a goose. I was warned it would be greasy but I didn’t find it unpleasantly so. It cost twice as much as duck (per pound.) I prefer duck. Turkey left-overs are better than goose’s. Goose was fun to roast once.
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### Author:  [@Arnold\_Winkelried](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Arnold_Winkelried)
#### Post date: [December 9, 1999, 6:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/goose-for-christmas/5200/14 "1999-12-09T06:15:00Z")
**Guy Propski** , that actually reinforces my theory, I think.
Christmas Present: Cratchits poor, eat a goose.
“Revised” Christmas: Scrooge decides to be generous, offers a turkey.
Maybe turkeys were more expensive at the time of Dickens’ writing.
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Quand les talons claquent, l’esprit se vide.
Maréchal Lyautey
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### Author:  [@RealityChuck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RealityChuck)
#### Post date: [December 8, 1999, 8:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/goose-for-christmas/5200/15 "1999-12-08T20:05:00Z")
One reason why geese aren’t served all that often these days is due to the difficulty raising them.
You can’t keep geese in a small, enclosed area; they start attacking each other. But you can fill a pen with turkeys. Much easier to raise, and thus cheaper to sell.
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“East is east and west is west and if you take cranberries and stew them like applesauce they taste much more like prunes than rhubarb does.” – Marx
Read “Sundials” in the new issue of Aboriginal Science Fiction. [www.sff.net/people/rothman](http://www.sff.net/people/rothman)