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Newsletter: 🎃 Creepy cooking for Halloween + dinners for the Day of the Dead 👻

29 October 2026 · ckbk newsletter
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Spooky suppers and terrifying treats

October 31 is Halloween—or All Hallows’ Eve—the night when spirits walk unsettled. Halloween is a tradition with Christian origins, but is now a globally-embraced celebration. As Halloween falls on a Saturday this year, it is a chance for a weekend long celebration of all things ghostly and chilling. Whether you are hosting a party, cooking a scary supper, or expecting trick or treaters, we’ve got the recipes to suit.

Pumpkin is always on the menu at Halloween. Those gorgeous orange globes are not just for carving jack o’ lanterns, make the most of the insides too. How about Pumpkin Soup to warm the kids—sorry, witches and ghouls—when they come in from chilly streets. Hand out Pumpkin Turnovers at your Halloween drinks, or for the sweet-toothed make a batch of Gingerbread Pumpkin Seed Brittle.

On the subject of sweet stuff, Black Cat Cookies and Alien Monster Pops make a charming alternative to shop bought candy for trick or treaters—if you can resist them yourselves.

However you celebrate, happy Halloween all!
Explore Trick or Treat: Savory & Sweet Eats for Halloween
Pictured above: Hallowe’en Gingerbread Mummies and Skeletons from Real Food Kids Will Love by Annabel Karmel

Day of The Dead
The Day of the Dead (November 1 and 2) is a chance to commemorate those we have lost. Celebrated primarily in Mexico and neighbouring Latin American countries, families and friends gather to pay respects to those who have died, building altars of remembrance, and sharing memories and stories.

We have plenty of ideas for Dishes and Drinks for Day of the Dead Celebrations, including this warming Chicken Tortilla Soup. Chocolate is ever present in Mexican cuisine and on Day of the Dead altars. Try this Oaxacan Style Drinking Chocolate. Imagery of skulls and skeletons bring the celebrations vividly to life. You could bake some skull shaped Sugar Cookies.

There is also a delicious chapter in Yvette Marquez-Sharpnack’s book Muy Bueno Fiestas, filled with recipes perfect for Día de los Muertos. Find Chile Braised Pork Ribs, Pan de Meurto—a signature food for Day of the Dead, this bread is flavored with citrus and anise. And for a suitably named and colored drink try a Blood Orange Marigold Margarita.
Find all the Day of the Dead recipes in Muy Bueno Fiestas

Remember, remember…

If you need more dread, danger, and dastardly deeds in your life, remember, remember that November 5 is Guy Fawkes night—or Bonfire Night—when in England we burn the ‘Guy’ in memory of the foiled gunpowder plot of 1605. So bring out the fireworks, and enough outdoor party food to keep us all warm while we ooh and aah at a safe distance.

The ultimate Bonfire Night sustenance is a baked potato—try this recipe for Jacket Potatoes with Shaved Vegetable Salad and Tuna Mayo, or this for Filled Sweet Potato Skins with Citrus Sour Cream. And don’t forget the Toffee Apples—it wouldn’t be Bonfire Night without them.
 
For these recipes and more explore our collection of Warming Recipes for Bonfire Night.

Canada’s culinary hall of fame
Congratulations to Niloufer Mavalvala and Jennifer McLagan for being inducted into the Taste Canada Hall of Fame. We are thrilled to see both authors’ culinary writing and cultural contribution honored in this way, and to have their work on ckbk.
 
Explore Niloufer’s evocative and important documenting of Parsi cookery in her books, such as The Art of Parsi Cooking: Reviving an Ancient Cuisine. Jennifer’s multi award-winning books explore the humbler parts of the ingredient list, and include Odd Bits: How to Cook the Rest of the Animal, and Bones: Recipes, History, and Lore.

Ingredient focus: horseradish

Horseradish is a root related to the mustard family. Fresh horseradish has an intense peppery taste with a bright pungency, and is particularly popular in Northern Europe and the UK. It is generally grated for use, most traditionally in the UK in a Horseradish Sauce—a cold condiment that is served with roast beef. Its spicy heat can pep up a range of dishes, such as this Cream of Parsley Soup with Fresh Horseradish.
Look at our collection of 12 Ways with Horseradish for more ways to give your dishes some bite. Find a recipe for Smoked Eel, Cheltenham Beetroot and Horseradish, and this for Greek Mushroom Stifado with Horseradish Mashed Potatoes (pictured above).

6 of the best ways with oatmeal

The humblest of ingredients, but always comforting, nutritious, affordable, and ready to hand. Let's hear it for oatmeal.

Old-Fashioned Chewy Oatmeal & Raisin Cookies

from Lavender & Lovage by Karen Burns-Booth

Chocolate Oatmeal

from Simple and Delicious Vegan by Michaela Vais

Glazed Oatmeal Lace Cookies

from The Art of the Cookie by Shelly Kaldunski

Aunt Marina’s Oatmeal

from My South Texas Kitchen by Yvette Zuniga Jemison

Oatmeal Ice Cream

from Frozen Desserts by Francisco Migoya

Toasted Oatmeal Rolls

from Bien Cuit: The Art of Bread by Zachary Golper