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Cornish Feasts and Festivals

Liz Woods, illus­tra­tions by Freya Laughton

Cornish Feasts and Festivals front cover imageCornish Feasts and Fest­ivals com­bines two of Cornwall’s great assets: its lively cul­ture and its strong culin­ary tra­di­tion. Liz Woods travels the county seek­ing out both tra­di­tional fest­ivals and recent reviv­als. She then links them ima­gin­at­ively with both clas­sic Cornish dishes and more mod­ern feasts using local ingredi­ents. On the way we get a lively, and some­times idio­syn­cratic, look at Cornish his­tory, folk­lore, food and cus­toms. So whether it’s Fal­mouth Oyster Fest­ival or Gold­sith­ney Charter Fair, wild herb tart or Pen­zance apple cake, this book will guide you around the county and enable you to cook a Cornish-​​inspired feast of your own.

Cornish Feasts and Fest­ivals describes 30 Cornish fest­ivals, each with quirky illus­tra­tions and an accom­pa­ny­ing recipe, old or new. For each recipe there is a pho­to­graph of the fin­ished dish.

Liz Woods trained as a law­yer, but spent most of her career as a col­lege lec­turer and man­ager. She came to Corn­wall in the late 1990s. Her interest in his­tory, food and folk­lore inspired her to begin writ­ing her pop­u­lar Feasts and Fest­ivals blog in 2010. Cornish Feasts and Fest­ivals builds on the suc­cess of that, and on the resur­gence of interest in local food and cuisine in Corn­wall. Liz’s poetry has been antho­lo­gized by Grey Hen Press.

Freya Laughton is a ver­sat­ile artist, liv­ing and work­ing in west Corn­wall. Her wide range of work includes greet­ings cards, draw­ings and textiles.

Cornish Feasts and Fest­ivals is pub­lished in our Pocket Corn­wall series.

  • Intro­duc­tion
  • Notes for the Cook
  • Twelfth Night… Twelfth Day cake
  • St Hilary’s Day… Whole cauli­flower soup with smoked paprika oil
  • Shrove Tues­day… Pen­zance sea­food pancakes
  • Hurl­ing Match at St Columb Major… Heavy cake
  • St Piran’s Day… Cornish pasties
  • Good Fri­day… Saf­fron hot cross buns
  • Tre­vith­ick Day in Cam­borne… Spot­ted Dick
  • May Day… Syl­la­bub
  • Pad­stow ’Obby ’Oss… Mus­sels in saf­fron cream
  • Hel­ston Flora Day… Wild herb tart
  • Beat­ing the Par­ish Bounds on Rog­a­tion Day… Eld­er­flower cordial
  • Bugle Band Con­test… Cornish tea bread
  • Golowan… Sum­mer fruit shortcakes
  • Bod­min Rid­ing… Rid­ing ale casserole
  • The Knill Cere­mony at St Ives… Paper ‘pas­ties’ with hake and onions
  • St Endel­lion Music Fest­ival… Spiced cherries
  • Gold­sith­ney Charter Fair… Cornish fairings
  • Tea Treats and Sunday School Out­ings… Cornish cream tea
  • Newlyn Fish Fest­ival… Mar­in­ated mackerel
  • The Cornish Gorsedd… Cornish under-​​roast
  • Michael­mas… Extra rich bramble and apple pie
  • Har­vest Time: Cry­ing the Neck… Poppy seed roll
  • Cal­l­ing­ton Honey Fair… Meth­eglyn tart
  • The Nel­son Thanks­giv­ing Ser­vice at Mad­ron… Hedgerow relish
  • Allan­tide – Nos Calan Gwaf… Pen­zance apple cake
  • St Just Feast… Pigeon pie
  • Mon­tol… Spicy parsnip, squash and apple soup with hog’s pud­ding croûtons
  • Tom Bawcock’s Eve… Star gazy pie
  • Nade­lik Lowen… Yule log
  • New Year’s Eve: Was­sail… Hot spiced cider
  • Fur­ther Reading
  • Places to Visit

ISBN 9780906720875
1st edi­tion
Paper­back
128 pages
30 col­our pho­to­graphs, 31 col­our illus­tra­tions
23.04.13
150 x 153 mm
£5.95

‘As always with books in this series, the design is clean and sump­tu­ous, with, in this title, not only the usual high stand­ard of pho­to­graphy but also fun illus­tra­tions of fest­ival sights by West Cornwall-​​based Freya Laughton.
’A depar­ture from the usual more topo­graph­ical con­cerns of the Pocket Corn­wall series so far, the only ques­tion for the bib­li­o­phile is not whether to pur­chase it – but where to shelve it: along­side other Cornish works, or in the kit­chen, so those recipes are near to hand?’ (Cornish Guard­ian, 25.04.13. You can read the full review here.)

‘An unusual and highly indi­vidual take on our feasts and fest­ivals … recipes for everything from Twelfth Night cake to Tom Bawcock’s Eve star gazy pie, … splen­did pho­to­graphs … quirky, eye-​​​​catching and very amus­ing illus­tra­tions by Penwith-​​​​based artist Freya Laughton … ful­filling in sev­eral dif­fer­ent ways with its slices of Cornish his­tory and folk­lore as well as food … A ban­quet of a book, as delight­ful as it is deli­cious and excel­lent value’ (The Cornish­man, 09.05.13. You can read the full review here.)

‘Cook­ing up a proper feast of Cornish fest­ivals old and new’ (West­ern Morn­ing News, 14.05.13. You can read the full review here.)

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