Wyn Drabble: The race is on for your festive fare

Pavlova is the clear winner when it comes to Christmas puddings. Photo / NZME

Season's Eatings

I would like to offer a big festive thank you to Retail Meat New Zealand. They have done all the survey work that I was going to do for my readers so they've saved me a lot of trouble.

I wanted to know what Kiwis are going to eat for Christmas and now I know. I had the current form all lined up and was even ready to place bets.

RMNZ's Christmas Survey, run in conjunction with Beef and Lamb New Zealand, is in its fourth year and has found that our favourite choice for Christmas protein is – you guessed it – ham.

To find this out they polled more than 3300 New Zealanders but it is not clear whether they only polled meat eaters. I wonder because I didn't see tofu mentioned anywhere in the findings.

One of the reasons ham is popular is that there are usually several days' worth of leftovers so the whanau can enjoy omelettes, toasties and sandwiches well into the future. You don't get a lot of that with tofu.

But I wanted to know about other Kiwi Christmas habits too and, lo and behold, the survey covered those as well. More time saved.

I was able to find that Christmas Day cooking methods are dominated by the oven (62.8 per cent) and barbecue (32.5 per cent). This represents improved form by ovens (last year's results were 61 per cent and 35 per cent).

I don't know what the other 4.7 per cent use but there are possibly some creative methods such as fondue candle or blowtorch. Probably trailing the field is stovetop boiling.

We interrupt with a late scratching: tofu is out of the protein race.

The survey found 37.3 per cent of people spend two to three days preparing their Christmas meal and 53.2 per cent eat it in the early afternoon. Only 5 per cent will be singing carols this year and only 1.7 per cent will be eating their meal in the late evening. I certainly feel enriched by knowing those figures but they don't offer great odds for the punters.

Wyn Drabble.

Traditional Christmas pudding is not expected to put up a strong performance in the dessert race but it's looking pretty good for pavlova at 70.6 per cent. Place your bets.

Yes, they're off! Strawberries and Cream has made a steady start out of the gate but Trifle is putting up a strong showing. Looking good in third place is Yule Log. Oh dear, Christmas Pudding has fallen – surely out of the race now. Flying up through the field on the outside it's Festive Flummery but don't discount the favourite. Yes, Pavlova is looking strong and has passed Festive Flummery who falls back to last place alongside Queen of Puddings. It's Pavlova! Pavlova has won!

To me, Commercial versus Home-baked is a one-horse race. In the birdcage, Commercial was looking airy and lacking texture. Home-baked, on the other hand had all the elements of a winner: crispy outside, slightly chewy layer next; soft and airy centre.

They're away! Where is Commercial? Oh no! It appears to have dissolved into airy nothingness inside the starting box. Home-baked a clear winner!

In the toppings race, it's Strawberry, Passionfruit and Kiwifruit all neck and neck. Photo finish.

And so to the final race, the favourite festive song, run over five furlongs. The track is fast, conditions are perfect.

Rudolph's red nose is first out of the gate, followed by All I Want For Christmas Is You, ridden by Mariah Carey. But flying through from the tail of the field - just look at him go - yes, the runaway winner is It's Beginning To Look A Lot Like Christmas, ridden by Michael Buble.

These are the sorts of results we need at the end of such a tumultuous year.

Yes, it's beginning to look a lot like Christmas.

• Wyn Drabble is a teacher of English, a writer, musician and public speaker.