What's really socially divisive about traditional British treats like fruitcake and steamed puddings is that only the prosperous have the time and the facilities to make them -- and the ingredients aren't cheap, either.

I made a dozen two-pound loaves of fruitcake this year -- four double batches -- and the dried fruit alone cost more than $100. Each batch also required an entire pound of butter and eight eggs. Our Christmas pudding recipe makes two puddings that, carefully divided, will serve up to 24 people, but it calls for a full dozen eggs and close to $20 worth of fruit and crystallized ginger. That's not counting the suet ... and no, frozen butter is not a valid substitute.

To make a steamed pud, you need a large preserving kettle or soup pot, and a genuine pudding basin that will stand up to six hours of steaming. The alternative -- a pudding cloth -- is messy and awkward, because you have to suspend the pudding over the boiling water in the steamer. When you have conquered the engineering challenges of cooking the darned thing, you need the better part of a day you can spend in the house minding the stove.

That said, steamed pudding and fruitcake are robust delicacies that keep well and travel well. A pudding in its basin can be frozen for future reference, and transported long distances -- even by mail. A fruitcake properly moistened with brandy and wrapped in plastic clingfilm will keep for up to a year.