The holiday season brings plenty of food traditions, yet not all of them survive. What ended up on American tables back in the day tells a fascinating story of shifting tastes, convenience culture, and changing lifestyles. These dishes once held center stage at Christmas feasts and Thanksgiving spreads, then gradually faded from collective memory. Some got too complicated for modern schedules. Others fell victim to evolving health attitudes or simple lack of appeal to newer generations. Let’s dig into eight holiday foods that have mostly vanished from American dining rooms.
Mince Pie with Real Meat
Here’s the thing. When people talk about mincemeat pie today, they’re usually thinking of that jarred fruit filling from the grocery store. Unlike today’s fruit-filled versions, traditional mincemeat actually contained minced meat, typically beef or venison, mixed with suet, fruits, and spices. Mincemeat developed as a way of preserving meat without salting or smoking some 500 years ago in England, where mince pies are still considered an essential accompaniment to holiday dinners just like the traditional plum pudding.
This wasn’t some weird medieval experiment either. In honor of the birth of the Savior, the mince pie was originally made in an oblong casings, with a place for the Christ Child to be placed on top. The baby was removed by the children and the manger (pie) was eaten in celebration. The mixture of sweet dried fruits, warm spices like cinnamon and nutmeg, and savory minced beef created a surprisingly balanced flavor.
From the mid-19th century through the 1930s, it was mince rather than apple pie that signified as Americanism on a plate. Long before the phrase “as American as apple pie” entered the vernacular, mince was apotheosized as “the great American viand,” “an American institution,” and “as American as the Red Indians.” Apple pie wasn’t a big deal until the 1940’s. Despite it’s popularity, the pie was believed by haters and lovers alike to cause indigestion, nightmares, disordered thinking, hallucinations, and occasionally death. So what happened? Tastes changed, and the labor involved in preparing real mincemeat from scratch became less appealing as pre-made options flooded markets. The meat content gradually disappeared, leaving only the name and a pale shadow of the original recipe.
Christmas Plum Pudding
It’s really not pudding, at least by American standards. The cake – which contains figs and is topped with brandy – has been an English Christmas dessert since the mid-1600s. Plum pudding arrived in America with British immigrants, bringing the tradition of elaborate holiday preparation and ritual. The plum pudding is a national dish, and is despised by foreign nations because they never can make it fit to eat. In almost every family there is a recipe for it, which has been handed down from mother to daughter.
In A Christmas Carol, everyone claps for plum pudding. Our family has made this pudding our own tradition, and it really is something to clap for. The dense, boozy dessert required weeks of advance preparation. Families gathered on Stir-up Sunday to mix the ingredients, with everyone taking turns stirring clockwise while making wishes.
Honestly, the sheer effort involved probably contributed to its decline. The tradition involved whole families gathering in kitchens to take turns stirring the pot, creating memories alongside the custard itself. The process demanded attention and skill, qualities that became less appealing as convenience foods gained popularity. Its disappearance represents more than just a lost recipe – it symbolizes the decline of time-intensive holiday preparations that once brought generations together. Today, Christmas pudding remains largely a British tradition, with very few American households continuing the practice.
Oyster Stew for Christmas Eve
This tradition came over with the Irish immigrants in the mid-1800s and was particularly popular on Christmas Eve in Southern United States cuisine, with Irish Catholic immigrants adapting their traditional dried ling stew recipe for oysters. The rich, creamy oyster stew became a treasured Christmas Eve ritual for many American families, especially those with Irish Catholic heritage. We’ve learned that the colonists had a ready source of oysters from Chesapeake Bay. I enjoy this rich, creamy casserole, a special dish from this area’s holiday recipe collection.
That’s because there were tons of oysters available to all classes of people 300 years ago. But now that they have become a rather expensive delicacy, those oysters are often replaced with mushrooms in stuffing. The tradition declined as oysters became pricier and less accessible. What was once an affordable holiday staple transformed into a luxury item. Younger generations never developed the same attachment to the dish, and simpler Christmas Eve meals took its place.
Wassail
Let’s be real, most Americans today couldn’t tell you what wassail is beyond a word in a Christmas carol. This warming punch combined ale or cider with spices, sugar, and roasted apples, creating a communal drinking experience that brought households together. A 19th century recipe from 1890 was very sugary because the price of sugar had greatly reduced by then with beet sugar availability. The tradition of wassailing orchards and sharing the drink door-to-door created bonds within communities that have largely disappeared from modern holiday celebrations.
The whole ritual around wassail was deeply communal. People would go from house to house, singing and sharing the warm spiced drink. That kind of neighborly interaction feels almost foreign now. Modern holiday drinks tend toward individual servings or self-serve punch bowls, missing the ceremonial aspect that made wassail special. The drink itself isn’t gone entirely, appearing occasionally at historical reenactments or themed parties, yet the authentic tradition has mostly vanished from everyday American life.
Tom and Jerry Cocktail
A Tom and Jerry is a traditional Christmas-time cocktail in the United States, sometimes attributed to British writer and boxing journalist Pierce Egan in the 1820s. It is a variant of eggnog with brandy and rum added and served hot, usually in a mug or a bowl. This warm, frothy drink was such a holiday staple that manufacturers produced special Tom and Jerry sets, complete with punch bowls and matching mugs.
Historians are unclear as to why the Tom and Jerry has become such a Christmas staple in the Midwestern United States, but it was popular enough to merit a cottage industry of Tom and Jerry drink sets, consisting of punch bowls and mugs inscribed with the drink’s name in Old English font. Milk glass Tom and Jerry sets produced by the Hazel-Atlas and Mckee Glass companies were fairly common in the 1940s through 1960s. The drink required making a special batter with beaten egg whites and yolks, sugar, and spices, then adding hot milk and spirits individually for each serving.
If you’re not familiar with the Tom And Jerry drink, it was really popular way back when and a staple of Christmas gatherings. So popular they produced special punch bowls and mugs just for that one drink. And then poof, sometime around the 1960’s no one wanted to drink the stuff anymore. The labor involved and changing drinking preferences pushed it aside. Today, it survives mainly in pockets of the Midwest, with most Americans having never heard of it.
Creamed Peas with Pearl Onions
While growing up, it was a family tradition to make creamed peas with pearl onions for every Thanksgiving and Christmas dinner, with fathers being unhappy campers if they didn’t see this dish on the table. This elegant side dish combined the sweetness of tiny peas with delicate pearl onions in a velvety cream sauce, creating a sophisticated vegetable presentation that elevated holiday meals beyond basic preparations.
This refined side dish represented mid-century elegance at its finest. The dish required careful timing to avoid overcooking the peas while ensuring the onions maintained their shape and the cream sauce achieved perfect consistency. The tradition passed from generation to generation, with daughters making it for their own families. Yet it fell victim to changing preferences. The proliferation of frozen vegetable medleys and the preference for less rich preparations gradually pushed this refined dish from modern holiday tables, though it remains a treasured memory for those who experienced it.
Modern diners seem to favor simpler, less cream-heavy vegetable preparations. Health consciousness also played a role as people moved away from butter and cream-laden sides. What was once considered essential holiday fare now feels almost quaint.
Ambrosia Salad
Ambrosia appeared on traditional Christmas menus alongside eggnog pie and mince pie with rum butter sauce in the 1870s. This ethereal mixture of fresh oranges, coconut, and sometimes pineapple was considered the food of the gods, hence its mythological name. The dish combined seasonal citrus fruits with exotic coconut, creating a refreshing contrast to heavy holiday meals.
Miniature marshmallows mixed with canned fruit and coconut created this sugary concoction that dominated potluck tables for decades. Church gatherings, family reunions, and holiday dinners always featured at least one bowl of this sweet, creamy mixture. The name itself suggested something heavenly and special. Grandmothers passed down their secret ingredient ratios, adding maraschino cherries or pecans for extra flair.
Contemporary palates find it overwhelmingly sweet and unnecessarily heavy. Modern dessert trends favor fresh fruit, dark chocolate, or artisan pastries instead. Health-conscious eaters avoid the high sugar content and artificial ingredients. The dish hasn’t completely disappeared, still showing up occasionally at Southern potlucks and church suppers. For the most part, though, younger Americans view it as an oddity rather than a cherished tradition.
Savory Gelatin Molds
In the 1960s, however, people inexplicably fell under the spell of savory Jell-O molds, and they were a hit for the Christmas dinner table. They are called “aspics,” and their jelly is made with meat stock. We’re happy this seems to be a ghost of Christmas past. These shimmering creations held vegetables, meats, or seafood suspended in gelatin, shaped in elaborate molds that demonstrated culinary prowess.
Back then, these shimmering creations symbolized modern convenience and sophistication. Families proudly served them at holiday gatherings and special occasions. Aspic salads, made with gelatin encasing meats, vegetables or eggs, declined sharply by the 1980s. Food historians note that the dish fell out of favor as Americans learned more about foodborne illness risks from improperly chilled gelatin molds. Modern research also shows that consumers overwhelmingly prefer fresh textures over gelatin bound savory foods, leading to its disappearance from mainstream menus.
Today, most people find the concept of savory gelatin quite strange. Culinary preferences shifted toward fresher ingredients and simpler presentations. Processed foods fell out of favor as health awareness grew. The elaborate effort required also seemed less appealing in our fast-paced world. Gelatin molds now live mostly in vintage cookbooks and nostalgic memories. Thank goodness for small mercies.
