Then on Mid-Lent Sunday, instead of furmenty we eat Simnel cake: a cake made variously, but always with saffron for its principal ingredient. This I should fancy was a relic of Papistry, but I wonder how it originated. Lambert Simnel the imposter in Henry the Seventh’s time was a baker’s son, I think. The shop windows are filled with them, high and low eat them. (Elizabeth Gaskell, letter to Mary Howitt, 18th August 1838) Continue reading “Simnel Cake”
Tag: Lent
Pancakes
Mix a pancake,
Stir a pancake,
Pop it in the pan;
Fry the pancake,
Toss the pancake—
Catch it if you can. (Christina Rossetti, ‘Mix a pancake’)
Today is Shrove Tuesday, the day of the year on which pancakes are traditionally eaten (hence its more common name of Pancake Day). Continue reading “Pancakes”
The Middle Ages: From Fasting to Feasting
In contrast to the few non-specific references to eating in Anglo-Saxon literature, medieval literature, particularly that dating from the later Middle Ages (14th and 15th centuries), contains far more references to food. Fish, stews, pies, bread and sweetmeats, all washed down with ale and wine, are scattered through the pages of many texts from the period. Continue reading “The Middle Ages: From Fasting to Feasting”