Always a joy to read, Annie Gray has tucked into historic menus, recipe books, fiction, newspapers and art to produce this witty exploration of Christmas dishes, starting with the grisly tradition of the boar’s head. Includes recipes for gingerbread-like Pepper Cake (still popular in Yorkshire in the UK), Plum Pottage (a neither savory or sweet historical curiosity), and Tipsy Cake, a precursor to trifle. Fascinating stuff.

For many people Christmas wouldn't be Christmas without a turkey and trimmings, pudding and brandy butter. But where do our traditions come from - and when modern writers 'reinvent' the Christmas meal, are they really doing anything so very different?

Annie Gray presents a delectable trip through time, from the earliest mentions of gluttonous meals at Christmas to the trappings and traditions of the present day. Tracing the birth of the twelve-day celebration under Edward I to the restoration of holiday splendour under Victoria, At Christmas We Feast is organised by festive dish, and features classic recipes alongside vibrant cultural and historical context.

From the familiarity of plum pudding and mince pies to the extravagance of boar's head and brawn, At Christmas We Feast is stuffed full of recipes, doused with history and tradition, and sprinkled with the joy of the feasts of Christmas past.

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The Twelve Shoulds of Christmas

Food historian Annie Gray is a familiar to many through her regular appearances on BBC Radio 4’s The Kitchen Cabinet. Annie has a passion for cookbooks, the older and more eclectic the better, and we are proud to have several of her own cookbooks on ckbk, including The Official Downton Abbey Cookbook and How to Cook the Victorian Way with Mrs Crocombe. Annie’s most recent cookbook, At Christmas We Feast which was added to ckbk this week, looks at the culinary traditions and mythologies which mark the festive season.