December 2025
The Empire Christmas Pudding & more
Dear Tastorians,
As the holiday season kicks off, I decided to look back at the many Christmas episodes I've made in the past. I must admit, it's hard to watch myself in previous videos, but I nonetheless enjoyed revisiting some of the wonderful history behind dishes like mincemeat pie, gingerbread, and plum pudding. It was during the video about plum pudding that I realized I never covered the subject of the Christmas Pudding designed to save the economy and concept of the British Empire.
In the early 1920s, the British government was cooking up ways to bolster both nationalistic pride as well as the many economies of the British Empire, which were still reeling from the devastation of World War I. The plum pudding was the ideal candidate. Not only was it already a symbol of the British empire (See The Plum-pudding in Danger which depicts William Pitt and Napoleon Bonaparte slicing up the British empire represented by a plum pudding), but also, the ingredients which made up the pudding were gathered from all across the empire itself.
The campaign began informally in 1922, when the British Women's Patriotic League urged people to "make your Christmas pudding an 'Empire Pudding'" by using only ingredients sourced from empire nations. The idea picked up steam in 1926 when King George V ordered, not only the pudding, but the entire royal Christmas dinner be created solely from Empire-sourced ingredients.
In 1927, the Empire Marketing Board (EMB) concocted a recipe meant to inform people where their ingredients could come from, for instance sultanas from Australia, cinnamon from India, cloves from Zanzibar and rum from Jamaica. It was a potent propaganda tool as well as a symbol of unity, though there were iterations of the list that annoyed certain nations such as Scotland, Ireland, Wales and Cyprus who, at first, were completely omitted from the ingredient list. Eventually Cyprus was given brandy, and Scotland, Ireland and Wales shared beer with England.
Just like the British empire, The Empire Christmas Pudding is a relic of the past, though I do think it would be a fun experiment to produce one of these puddings using the ingredients and locations listed above. Perhaps next year...
Also, if you're still looking for holiday gifts, all Tasting History merchandise is on sale through December. https://crowdmade.com/collections/tastinghistory
In the meantime, I offer you a marathon of the holiday videos I made over the past 5 years along with a Victorian recipe for mulled wine that will warm your cockles, whatever those are.
Tasting History Christmas Marathon Video
Last Month’s Videos
Happy Holidays,
Max