Colston bun

A Colston bun is a sweet bun made of a yeast dough flavoured with dried fruit such as currants, candied peel, and sweet spices. It is made in the city of Bristol, England, and named after Edward Colston, a local merchant and MP, who created the original recipe. There are two size categories: "dinner plate", with eight wedge marks on the surface, and "ha'penny staver", an individual-sized bun.[1][2]

Colston bun
TypeSweet bread
Place of originEngland
Region or stateBristol
Main ingredientsYeast dough, dried fruit, candied peel, sweet spices

The Colston bun is traditionally distributed to children on Colston Day (13 November), which celebrates the granting of a royal charter to the Society of Merchant Venturers by King Charles I in 1639. The custom originated from the Colston's School, which was established for poor children in Bristol during the early 18th century. Originally, the child would receive a large "dinner plate" bun with eight wedge marks so that individual portions could be broken off and shared with their family, plus a "staver" which could be eaten immediately to "stave off" hunger, and a gift of 2 shillings (now 10p) from the wives of the Merchant Venturers. The gifts of buns and money were distributed to some school children in Bristol on Colston Day by the Colston Society.[3]

Colston buns are not widely known outside Bristol, and are generally only available for sale on occasion in independent bakers around the city.[4] In the 21st century, the name has become controversial because of Edward Colston's connections to the slave trade.[5] The Colston Society, which had operated for 275 years commemorating Colston and supporting the Colston Day distribution of the bun, decided to disband in 2020 after the George Floyd protests and associated toppling of Colston's statue in Bristol; the society deemed it inappropriate to continue to memorialise him.[6]

See also

References
  1. Alan Davidson (11 August 2014). The Oxford Companion to Food. Oxford University Press. p. 118. ISBN 978-0-19-967733-7.
  2. Paul Potts (2013). One Chance: A Memoir. Weinstein Publishing. p. 37. ISBN 978-1-602-86239-5.
  3. "Every picture tells a story – Colston Buns". Bristol Post. 10 November 2008. Archived from the original on 20 September 2014. Retrieved 19 September 2014.
  4. "Bristol and the West: On the food map". BBC Food. 2 May 2014. Retrieved 9 August 2016.
  5. "Buns, sermons and slave songs - how slave trader Edward Colston was awkwardly commemorated on Anti-Slavery Day". Bristol Post. 20 October 2017. Retrieved 8 June 2020.
  6. Cork, Tristan (13 September 2020). "Bristol's original Colston Society to disband after 275 years". Bristol Post. Retrieved 14 September 2020.
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