...in which we are joined by Farmer's Wife author Helen Rebanks and food historian Ivan Day for a feast of Cumbrian Christmas fare. In Ivan's historic Westmorland farm kitchen we learn about the dishes that marked a traditional Christmas – 'hackin', powdered goose and sweet pie – before Helen and Ivan serve up three very different gingerbreads. Discussing her debut book, Helen speaks about food on the family farm, about memories of marmalade and about why food matters. Ivan, meanwhile, tackles a few local food queries: was ginger really a Whitehaven import?; was the Cumberland sausage introduced by German miners?; and which of Cartmel or Sharrow Bay can claim to be the true home of sticky toffee pudding? Finally, as we tuck into an early seasonal dinner, we learn about a Lowther christmas pie with ingredients that included 15 sparrows, 46 yellow hammers, 12 patridges... and a curlew.
Helen's book The Farmer's Wife is available from all good bookshops.
Helen is on Twitter at twitter.com/theshepherdswi1
Ivan is on Instagram at https://www.instagram.com/ivanpatrickday/
Countrystride #65: The passionate sisterhood - Sisters and wives of the Lake Poets
Countrystride #64: Joss Naylor
Countrystride #63: Danny Teasdale - Ullswater after the storm
Countrystride #62: GRANGE-OVER-SANDS & Hampsfell
Countrystride #61: Norman Nicholson - Son of Millom
Countrystride #60: Wad - The wealth of Borrowdale
Countrystride #59: Rural visionary - John Dunning in the Westmorland Dales
Countrystride #58: Swaledale - Meadows & mines
Countrystride #57: Helvellyn
Countrystride #56: Life in the woods - Working the Rusland rainforests
Countrystride 55: Threlkeld - A story of stone & steam
Countrystride #54: Damsons of the Lyth Valley
Countrystride #53: The lost history of hill farming
Countrystride #52: Cumbria Way with Paddy Dillon
Countrystride #51: Skiddaw House - Loneliest house in England
Countrystride #50: The young people of Cumbria
Countrystride #49: Wainwright on Haystacks - An anniversary retrospective
Countrystride #48: Hadrian's Wall
Countrystride #47: Lakeland pilgrims
Countrystride #46: Cumbria in a campervan
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