The Atrocity That Was Christmas Dinner In A Can

It's true – convenience does seem to be the key to life these days. We're all so busy with work, friends, and family that it seems all the prep that goes into cooking would be better spent elsewhere. Science fiction has long speculated about a future where we'd all be getting our nutrition from pills. Food lovers out there may have been terrorized by this idea of forgoing the taste, smell, texture, and pure comfort of a good meal for a tablet washed down with water.

However, there are apparently worse things out there in terms of condensed sources of nutrition. How busy do you have to be to give up a holiday meal of a perfectly roasted turkey with stuffing, crisp potatoes, and gravy followed by a warm, sweet pudding and replace it with a meal that resembles dog food? Well, the creators of Christmas Tinner felt that you could enjoy the best of both worlds. The concept was that gamers, too busy to join in a traditional family sit-down dinner, could enjoy an entire holiday's worth of food from a can – including breakfast, a main meal, and dessert. This Christmas dinner in a tin has been floated on the internet since at least 2013 (as seen in this piece by Creative Moment).

Game Christmas Tinner appeared to contain 9 layers of foods ranging from breakfast to Christmas pudding. In 2013, advertising agency MHP-Engine created a campaign for U.K.'s Game. MHP said, "Game asked us to create a disruptive Christmas campaign" with the aim of creating a buzz that would ultimately bring people to its website to buy gaming products. Mark Perkins, who was working with the company at the time, remembered that Kingston University student Chris Godfrey ad created a 12-course meal in a can "as a protest against austerity" and contacted him to help create a similar concept for Game.

The release of the campaign virtually exploded on the internet, it was mentioned on various websites, news channels, social media, and even on "Saturday Night Live," per YouTube. Not only did Christmas Tinner boost sales, Game reportedly achieved close to twice as many sales in December 2013 as it did a year earlier. In 2019, Game made headlines again with its apparent vegan version of the Christmas Tinner. This time ad agency Rise at Seven was behind the campaign. While there are other people who have created their own Christmas Tinners (via YouTube), this doesn't appear to be an item you'll find on many pantry shelves.