Stirring the pot

On the last weekend before Advent, families gather to make Christmas pudding-but they probably don't serve it with roast beef.

-  Neil Buttery

THE tradition of Stir-up Sunday is peculiarly British—nowhere else, apart from some Commonwealth countries, knows what a Christmas pudding is, let alone what Stir-up Sunday might entail, yet both pudding and ritual are fundamental to British food identity. The idea is that every member of the family takes part by adding an ingredient to the bowl or stirring. All rituals have their superstitions: the mixture must be stirred from east to west (the path of the sun across the sky, as well as the direction of travel by the Wise Men) or clockwise (never anti-clockwise, which is going against Nature and, therefore, bad luck).