Hello everyone! Welcome to E-com Monthly Intro to American culture.
I'm Heather.
And I'm Marcellus. Ho-ho-ho-ho!
Well, as you can guess by the Christmas tree and Marcellus's nice hat over here, it's Christmas time in December.
That's right and, if you haven't noticed by now, as Heather just mentioned, I'm wearing a very nice hat.
It's red with white trim. This is a Santa hat.
Yeah, Santa Claus is a big symbol of Christmas for us
and let's think about some things that are different in American and Japanese celebration of Christmas.
Okay, the first thing that comes to mind is I think in Japan Christmas is a holiday for couples.
Actually, Christmas Eve is the most important day of Christmas time, right?
That's right, but in America, actually, Christmas Day is the biggest celebration and it's usually a family event,
not with couples or your loved one.
If it's... maybe if it's your husband or wife and your kids, that's who you're celebrating with.
Also, Christmas time, a lot of times if you go to America around Christmas time, you'll hear this word a lot: the Christmas spirit.
And what that means is Christmas is about being kind to people, about being generous, about helping strangers,
about generally spreading kind of good nature and good will.
So, a lot of Christmas carols, you'll hear them being sung in the streets, they're all about the Christmas spirit.
That's right and how about Christmas food?
I think in Japan, you usually have fried chicken and strawberry shortcake.
That's right.
Yeah, but in America, we usually have a special kind of meat, maybe roast beef or honey-baked ham.
Oh my God! Honey-baked ham.
Yeah.
Making me hungry.
A lot of times too, for dessert in America, we have what we call a fruitcake,
which is a kind of cake that comes out around Christmas time.
It's more like bread and cake at the same time.
It's got lots of fruit. It's also soaked in rum or some kind of alcohol and I think it's really delicious,
but a lot of people in America actually don't like fruitcake. Do you?
That's right. I'm not a big fan of fruitcake, actually, to be honest.
Oh no!
No, but... yeah, well, Merry Christmas!
Merry Christmas!
Let's begin.
Okay, now we just talked about a lot of the special foods that we see during Christmas time.
Well, in America, there ac... there are actually a lot of different food cultures.
And so, we're gonna talk about three of those cultures with you right now.
The first one is: vegetarian.
The next one is: pescetarian.
And then, finally, we'll talk about what it means to be a vegan.
Okay.
Now, those all sound like complicated words.
Let's start with the first one: vegetarian.
Vegetarian is a person who generally only eats vegetables.
Now, I said generally, because vegetarians can also eat cheese, is that right?
Yeah, I think some draw... they draw the line somewhere else.
Some vegetarians eat eggs and cheese, things like that.
That's right.
And other vegetarians don't eat any of that. They're only eating the salad and vegetables and fruit.
That's right. Now, a pescetarian is a person who eats vegetables and...
Seafood or fish. That's right.
So, they're eating fish, but not meat, maybe is the difference with a pescetarian versus a vegetarian.
The vegetarian does not eat seafood or fish, but a pescetarian would eat seafood or fish.
Okay, and now there's one more category and this one's a little bit complicated, right.
We have vegetarians and then we also have vegans.
Now, vegetarians they eat vegetables, that's true, but they sometimes like to put a little butter on their bread
and butter comes from cows. That's right.
And maybe they might eat a scrambled egg or two, maybe.
Vegans, however, they don't touch anything that's from an animal.
So, that includes eggs, butter, leather shoes?!
That's right. They won't wear or use or eat anything that's from something with a face.
That's right.
So, yeah, not just eating, but anything that came from an animal they're not using or eating.
That's right. So, when you go to America and if you go out to dinner with your friends,
be aware of some of the food cultures that exist.
And also, don't be afraid to try something new.
Meat is delicious, but you can find some really excellent all vegetable dishes.
That's right and also, keep an open mind for these different, alternative cultures.
Maybe you think, 'Wow, they don't eat meat, that's crazy,' but let's keep an open mind and not judge anyone.
Maybe it's for religious reason, maybe it's for health reason
or maybe it's just how they were raised in a family that doesn't eat meat.
So, let's not think about it and let's just be interested to learn about these alternative cultures.
Absolutely. Have fun!
Bon appetit!
Alright everyone, thank you for watching our December videocast.
We know it's a very busy time of year for you, maybe you're working overtime, extra hard
and you're going to those year-end parties and drinking a little too much alcohol.
But be careful. Don't work too hard, don't drink too much and don't forget to take time to study English.
We'll see you next time!
Bye-bye!