A new Christmas joy
said Chelsea Moyo, Woolies’ food marketing manager. And this is how I have always felt about Christmas, too, that the food traditions are inseparable from the joy. I held onto my own family rituals for years, even transporting them to London when I lived there briefly, but, over the years, I have also adapted. Slowly. “CHRISTMAS WOULDN’T BE CHRISTMAS WITHOUT … OXTAIL,” We started serving the gammon hot on Christmas Eve, forgoing the much-loved slaphakskeentjies, but embracing duck-fat roast potatoes with enthusiasm. At some point I started making a praline semifreddo from Jamie Oliver’s first cookbook as a trifle alternative. It stuck. One year, I was staying with my dad over Christmas and realised very late that he did not have a food processor to blitz the hazelnut-studded slab into crumbs. My father…
