We tackle a topic that illustrates how much we have lost because of this virus. Halloween!

First, I thought I might look at the origins of the holiday. Hands up… How many of you thought that Halloween’s origins are from the United States?

I find it especially ironic that people here in Britain are certain that Halloween is an American curse. However, the origins date back 2,000 years to the Celts who celebrated the festival of Samhain (pronounced sow-win). This was a sort of New Year’s Eve celebration to celebrate 1 November as being the start of “the dark half of the year”. The Celts would light bonfires and it is even said that the ancient Irish and Scots would put on costumes and go door to door singing songs of the dead. They were given cakes as payment.



The more traditional interpretation of Halloween is the Christian belief that the eve before All Saints Day (1 November), people would dress in frightening outfits and leave treats to scare off and appease the evil spirits so they would not bother the saints on All Saints’ Day. That being All Hallows’ Eve was shortened to Halloween and yes, that is where the word Halloween derives from.

Over the last century, Americans, as they often do, went over the top on celebrating Halloween. In 2019, the average American spent somewhere between $86.26 and $162.29 on Halloween costumes, decorations and candy. Just on candy alone, they spent US Dollars $2,600,000,000.00. Yes, 2.6 billion dollars.

Here in the UK, 95% of the ten million pumpkins grown will be used for jack-o’-lanterns. That number may seem high, but surprisingly, we don’t eat pumpkins here. This is sad because just about every part of a pumpkin is edible.

First, there is the pumpkin pie. I am gutted that we cannot get pumpkin pies here in the UK. If I were talented at baking (I struggle to boil water), I guess I could bake them myself. These are a custard pie, almost a tart, served without a top crust and often topped with whipped cream.



When I lived in Africa, I taught my cook, Bennie, to make a pumpkin pie. He caught on quite well and made some excellent pies but insisted on serving them as the vegetable with the main meal because, “pumpkins are vegetables and you don’t eat vegetable for dessert.” I did not want to spoil his day by telling him that technically, pumpkins are fruits, not vegetables.

Pumpkins can also be used as a base ingredient for a wonderful soup. Often flavoured with ginger and other hearty spices, a pumpkin soup is a great way to warm up on a rainy, autumn day (not that we get many of these here in the UK).

And finally, pumpkin seeds are a great snack. I think this was the thing that has amazed my friends the most. It is so simple and is delicious.

Here are the steps:

• Take the seeds out of the pumpkin
• Wash and dry the seeds
• Put the seeds in a bowl and add some olive oil, salt and just about any spice you want including garlic powder, black pepper, paprika, chilli powder or finely diced fresh chillies, and sea salt instead of table salt
• Spread them out on a baking tray (lined or greased makes it easier to get them out
• Put them in the preheated oven at around 190° C for around 15 minutes
• Eat

I was asked how COVID would affect my Halloween and if I thought I would get any trick-or-treaters. The answer is simple. Not at all.

Growing up, I lived in remote area at the end of a dead-end street at the edge of a state forest. No trick-or-treater in their right mind would walk to my house.

I then spent 20 years in Africa where the idea of trick or treating what as foreign as I was. I made of jack-o’-lantern once with a candle inside and put it on the front gate for people to see. The watchman saw it and smashed it to bits because it would “attract evil spirits”.

Since I moved to London, I have not had one trick-or-treater at my door. I am not expecting one now. If I do get one, they are going to be quite out of luck. The last thing I need is more candy in Walker Towers.

Certainly, this year’s Halloween will be celebrated a bit differently for many than in past years. I do feel sorry for children who are losing one of the fun parts of being a child and I also feel sorry for adults who celebrate this day with family that they are not living with and cannot do so this year. And of course there are adults who would have normally gone to clubs and danced in fancy dress costumes until the wee hours of the morning.



I have one friend in mind, who sometimes does radio shows with me, who is a huge fan of Halloween and for him, I know this must be tough.

This remains me of parties we had when I lived in Tanzania. They were fancy dress, but you needed to dress up in a costume that could only have the colours black and white. I went as a chef, complete with chef’s whites and a toque. I had a belt with kitchen utensils hanging off of it and walked around handing out pages from a tattered old cookbook that I scrounged up in my storeroom.

I am a fairly heavy man, some may say portly, others might just say “fat”. And fair enough, I am. But one person at the party did not know me and was not aware of my being gravity challenged. She commented on what a brilliant job I did and how realistic the padding under my costume was, much to the horror of the people around her that knew me.

She wanted to crawl under the table when they told her that the padding was actually my natural padding.

I hope, however you spend it, you have a great Halloween.