A Continual Feast

One of the cookbooks I often look at when approaching a holiday is A Continual Feast by Evelyn Birge Vitz. We got our copy as a gift from my youngest child's godmother, who knew the author. This cookbook looks at the place of food in Christian life; it takes into account the liturgical cycle, traditional foods from Christian cultures, and has short essays on fasting, feasting, family meals, etc.

From the Table of Contents:

1. DAYS OF REJOICING AND CELEBRATION
   
   Sunday; Church picnics; Namedays; Birthdays; Baptism; First communion and confirmation; Marriage; More food for thought on occasions of feasting


2. DAY BY DAY
   
   Thoughts and recipes for family meals


3. TRADITIONS OF CHRISTIAN HOSPITALITY
   
   Emergency recipes for entertaining (possibly) angelic visitors; Other suggestions for a warm welcome; Taking food to others; Soup kitchen


4. FASTING
   
   Tips on fasting; Days of abstinence; Friday; Ember days of Advent


5. Advent
   
   Baking with children; The Feast of St. Nicholas; Advent--and Chanukah; St. Lucy's Day; The Paradise Tree; Christmas gift giving; Christmas Eve


6. CHRISTMAS DAY AND THE CHRISTMAS SEASON
   
   The reveillon meal; Christmas dinner; Carol-singing party; St. Stephen's Day; The Feast of St. John; The Feast of the Holy Innocents; St. Sylvester's Day; New Year's Day; St. Basil the Great; Epiphany/Twelfth Night


7. LENT
   
   A Lenten sampler; A biblical dinner; Mid-Lent Sunday: Mothering Sunday; Holy Week


8. EASTER


9. PENTECOST


10. THANKSGIVING


11. WINTER
    
    The Feast of St. Anthony of the Desert; St. Bridgid of Ireland; St. Valentine's Day; Carnival and Mardi Gras; St. David; St. Patrick; Forty Martyrs of Sebaste; St. Joseph, Foster Father of Christ


12. SPRING
    
    St. Benedict of Nursia; The Annunciation; St. Benedict the Black; St. Honoratus of Amiens


13. SUMMER
    
    St. Peter the Apostle; St. James the Greater; St. Anne; St. Laurence; The Assumption (or Dormition) of the Virgin Mary; St. Euphrosynus the Cook; The Exaltation of the Holy Cross; St. Ninian


14. FALL
    
    St. Michael; Devil's--and Deviled--Food; St. Francis of Assisi; St. Teresa of Avila; All Saints Day; All Souls Day; St. Martin of Tours; St. Catherine of Alexandria

I recommend this book highly. It is a wonderful first addition to your shelf of Christian cookbooks, although I'm sure that anyone who enjoys your hospitality will enjoy the dishes from this book.