to think starters with Christmas dinner are superfluous?

DH has to have a starter, they always did growing up, and it’s just madness to me. His starter of choice is tinned tomato soup.

Why on earth would you ruin the best roast dinner of the year, all lovingly cooked from scratch, followed by an amazing pudding with homemade custard (he cooks most of this himself too), with tinned tomato soup? I’ll never understand it.

I like starters, it makes it more of an occasion. It's about the only time we make a 3 course meal at home.

No roast here as we're veggies, but whatever you're eating, the main course doesn't have to be piled high, does it? I'm amazed at some of the menus people come up with for the main course - 3 kinds of potatoes, 6 different veg...

Yep me too, no starters and Christmas pudding is usually consumed late June or July.

Yeah we do all the seasonal stuff, I just don’t eat loads of it. We don’t have turkey (it’s no one in our household’s favourite meat, so why would we eat something on a special day that’s no one’s favourite?) but this year the plan is rib of beef, roast potatoes, Yorkshire puddings, braised red cabbage, cauliflower cheese and sprouts fried with butter and bacon. Can still eat a starter though, I just stop eating the main course when I’m full. No pudding, but we will have a cheese board late in the evening.

never do starters at Christmas , it’s enough work doing the dinner

I love how defensive people get on these threads 😂 What I don’t have any experience of are the “it’s just a Sunday roast” people! Our Christmas lunch is all out: two proteins, half a dozen vegetables, potatoes in various forms, sauces, gravy, pigs in blankets, stuffing - the works (and consequently no starters). If it’s just turkey and two veg and roast potatoes then yes it’s just a Sunday roast but with a bigger bird. But doesn’t everyone do all the seasonal stuff? Isn’t that what a Christmas lunch is?

Smoked salmon and asparagus, maybe a light terrine.

Then anythjng but turkey.

Love it zmy favorite part of everything (almost ) that moment to sit ,relax take a breath and start. I don't feel I would have been relaxed enough to go straight into the roast ! I calm down during the starter ready for the main act.

We do breakfast, a starter, snacks, and the main event. Basically a full day eating, although we manage a run first thing and a couple of dog walks in there too. If I don’t go to bed feeling sick, I’ll feel hard done by.

We don’t do starters, the meal itself is as large as you want it to be, all put on dishes in the middle of the table to help yourself from and then a choice of 4 puddings. Our guests come early afternoon, we have a brunch before they come (they will have breakfast/lunch in their houses before arriving) and there will be crisps/nuts/homemade sausage rolls etc in the afternoon for snacks. we eat around 5pm and then there is a full buffet from about 9 as we have other evening guests joining us at 7:30.

I have never done starters as such. After a late breakfast we don’t have dinner until 5 or 6, so I’ve often provided canapés a couple of hours beforehand - usually something fishy, ready made from M&S.

We don’t have starters, we have ‘canopies’ throughout the day. Just a steady stream of little bits! Absolutely stoll hungry for the roast!

We do soup, it's a light vegetable broth that my gran always made so a bit of a family tradition.

Starter > dessert

We always have a starter - prawns, smoked salmon, hot smoked salmon and gravalax. Yes it’s a big starter but we enjoy it. There will be a break of over an hour between main and pudding. We always had a starter growing up - always smoked salmon and prawns. I remember my parents saving up the change from my dad’s pockets in a large jar to pay for the smoked salmon at Christmas. It was a real treat.

We always had starters growing up - cold things like smoked salmon or prosciutto, that kind of thing. I’m sad that I now live with two non foodies (and veggies) so I don’t get to do that anymore. My dad was usually in charge of the starters.

We do canapés OR a starter, not both. We start with canapés and fizz at around 11.30-12ish and nibble on those until our main meal is ready at about 4.30. Eat that, have pudding at about 7 - probably having had a board game interlude in between the two. Cheese comes out when people start getting peckish for something savoury at about 9.

It’s a bit of an all day event at ours 😂

I've never had a starter at Xmas. It's just more money to spend and more food to waste. We just have a usual size roast but with pigs in blankets. Plus a desert which we wouldn't normally have.

And that's coming from me....a very fat person who eats a lot of rubbish!

We have starter about an hour or so before dinner. Just small salad with Parma ham, bresola & salami. Then dinner & a few hours after we have dessert. Just spread 3 courses over the day. We don't have breakfast though.

DH makes amazing soup that’s why we have it.

Agreed. I made soup one year and it was pointless. Everyone gets too full with the actual meal to even have dessert in our house, a starter would be total overkill.

Same

Starters totally aren't necessary, but for most people - how often are you cooking a 3 course meal? It just feels a bit special.

We have a cold seafood starter that just requires assembly with something like a lovely Chablis about 1:30 pm then attend to the turkey and veg before sitting down to Christmas lunch about 3ish.

Long break before Christmas pudding about 6pm.

Just one large meal stretched out over lunch and dinner.

YABU. When else can you eat half a baked Camembert before a roast dinner?