Celebrating All Hallows’ Eve

On the 30th October 2021, we are celebrating All Hallows’ Eve at PLANT POWER FOOD. We will cook & make a special menu for only this day which worships the seasonal ingredient harvested in Oktober, with a twist of spooky-ness. But why do we even celebrate this day - and which vegetables are in focus at this time?

It is widely believed that many Halloween traditions have evolved from an ancient Celtic festival called Samhain which was Christianised by the early Church. Samhain is a Gaelic word meaning “end of the summer”.
This festival is to celebrate the end of the harvest and the time of preparation for the coming winter. A common thing to do at the Samhain festival was to light bonfires and wear costumes to ward off ghosts. The modern celebration of Hallowe’en is a complicated mix of evolved (and evolving) traditions and influences. The Old English word “hallowed” means holy or sanctified and is now usually contracted to the more familiar word Hallowe’en.

Vegetables that can be harvested in the fall are pumpkins, potatoes, onions, different roots, different cabbage varieties, apples, pears, and corn. Especially pumpkins go hand in hand with the fall harvest & holidays, but also with Halloween. This nutritious and versatile orange fruit featured with flowers, seeds, and flesh is edible and very rich in vitamins. Which makes them an ideal vegetable to have as a staple food during the winter.

Pumpkin seeds should be planted between the last week of May and the middle of June. They take between 90 and 120 days to grow and are picked in October when they are bright orange in color. Their seeds can be saved to grow new pumpkins the next year.

Traditional Samhain & All Hallows’ Eve food would be pumpkin soup, cakes with dried fruit, pie & bread. Creamy Mashed potatoes mixed with kale & over-poured with gravy. For drinks, it is common to have wine, ciders & punch.