Last week we were all about gingerbread, this week we have to pay our respects to the Great Dickens Christmas Fair that is unabashedly helping keep holiday food tradition alive.
We’ve been going to the Dickens Fair every year for the past several and yesterday’s visit didn’t disappoint. We ate and drank our way through sawdusted streets and shops, trying on hats, waving magic wands, flipping through old books and enjoying all forms of Dickens tomfoolery. Even if you’re not into Charles Dickens you’d probably be down for the food if you have a hankering for traditional holiday fare—a lot of which has been long forgotten or only referenced in Christmas carols.
Among the many food vendors and bar options you can find the following Victorian holiday treats:
Roasted Chestnuts
Yorkshire Pudding
Meat Pie (we had the steak and mushroom pie upon arrival and wanted to immediately eat another 12)
Turkey, duck, chicken and lamb dinners complete with stuffing, gravy and pumpkin pie
Hot Toddies
Hot Buttered Rum
Hot Cider with Brandy
Egg Nog
Not to mention fish and chips, Mediterranean plates, crepes, curry, scones, cookies, chocolate, bread pudding, and the list goes on.
The Dickens Fair is a holiday wonderland for all the senses, in the unlikely concrete bunker of the Cow Palace. The place becomes a carefully crafted London of Yore that you can see, touch, hear and taste. Jacob Marley pulls his chains through the streets, Queen Victoria and her entourage parade through the shops, all of this while drinking Hot Buttered Rum and playing a game of darts–it really does feel like you’ve stepped into a Dickens novel and for one afternoon it’s totally fine to talk with a bad British accent.
The Great Dickens Christmas Fair [Official Site]
[Photo via Dickens Fair]
