It's that time of year again and throughout December Travelling Kitchen workshops have been filled with the smells of cinnamon, cloves, ginger, citrus and dried fruits as we've cooked up some Christmas treats. We made over 190 mince pies with two classes at Iron Acton primary school for their Christmas nativity and carol service and have made lots of wishes as we've stirred Christmas cakes at several schools.
Throughout this term Travelling Kitchen have been running intergenerational cooking sessions with the lovely students at Orchard secondary school as part of the Meadows to Meaders project in Southmead. Keeping to the 1930s theme we all sat down to a 1930s style tea at the end of the last session. Our research into festive food from the 1930s confirmed that we are lovers of tradition and many of the recipes we cook today were favourites of our grandparents and great grandparents and often have a history that can be traced back centuries. The centrepiece of our tea was a yule log. The yule log is traditionally associated with France and Belgium but we took our inspiration from a recipe given in a 1937 edition of Woman's Illustrated. A plate of crumbs and a sprig of holly at the end of the tea testitified to the appropriateness of the article's title of 'Cakes that children love'.
We're taking a break over Christmas but in truth are unlikely to be far away from the kitchen for long. We're looking forward to more food adventures in 2017 and wish you a happy Christmas and a peaceful New Year.