Southampton residents are being asked to help revive the Regency meal of ‘nuncheon’ by entering a recipe competition run by a community bakery in the city.
Shirley-based CommuniBakes wants ideas for cake or bread it doesn’t already make that would be suitable as a mid-morning or afternoon snack. The best two will win two novels each.
Matt Baker, Director of CommuniBakes at 21, St James Road, says: “A few months ago we were delighted to have Sunday Times Bestselling novelist, Sophie Irwin visit our bakery as part of the book signing and Q&A sessions she was doing with the charity Communicare, which we’re the commercial arm of. All our proceeds go towards Communicare and its work enriching the lives of lonely and isolated people in and around Southampton.
“When Sophie came to see us, she very kindly left us some signed copies of her novels, which are both based in the Regency era, for us to use for a competition. We were delighted to see the latest book features the meal nuncheon, which we’d never heard of before! But after Sophie explained it to us, we thought it was worthy of revival and wanted to get as many suggestions as possible from people for what they might like to eat for it that we don’t already do.”
Nuncheon is an old Anglo-Saxon word, which means, in today’s terms, a quick snack between main meals that you can hold in your hands. It was also used in Regency times, before lunch was popularised. It’s thought it comes from the word ‘nuch’, which was used in the 16th and 17th centuries and meant a piece of bread.
Author Sophie, who grew up in Dorset, explains: “It’s great that people are talking about nuncheon and reviving it, especially during the winter months. This is a wonderful idea for a competition! From my research, for my latest book, I discovered it can be any kind of mid-morning or mid-afternoon snack of bread or cake.
“In the Regency, they didn’t have a sit-down lunch per se, but snacky moments through the day and this was one of them. I’m looking forward to seeing some of the recipes when they come in to CommuniBakes and I’m hoping some people will do some historical research and give their ideas a Regency twist. I imagine Bath buns will be mentioned!”
Sophie’s new book ‘A Lady’s Guide to Scandal’ was published at the end of the summer on the same day that the paperback edition of her first novel ‘A Lady’s Guide to Fortune Hunting’ came out.
Sophie has spent years immersed in studying historical fiction, from a dissertation on how Georgette Heyer helped win World War Two, to time spent in dusty stacks and old tomes losing herself in Regency London researching her books.
Matt adds: “Southampton has strong links to a hugely famous Regency novelist. Jane Austen visited and lived in the city, and even danced at the Dolphin Hotel, now a Mecure, in the late 1700s, so I’m sure today’s city residents will have plenty of ideas for cakes and bakes that would be perfect for revising nuncheon!”
Recipe entries from adults only should be submitted via CommuniBakes social media pages, Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn and Twitter by direct message or dropped in at the bakery at 21, St James Road by hand, complete with contact details, and the closing date is 3pm on Friday, December 15, 2023. The winning two entries will be contacted in the new year and invited to the bakery to accept their prizes and details will be announced on social media and the bakery website.
CommuniBakes was purchased to help raise funds for Communicare in 2021 and is a separate limited company. All profits from all the bakes sold go towards the charity and the work it does to help lonely and isolated people across Southampton.
Communicare is a friendly, neighbourhood charity staffed by devoted volunteers, known as Communiteers.
It’s currently supporting more than 700 individuals/families through tasks including one-to-one befriending and transport for essential appointments and assistance with shopping.
The services it provides are free to users, although beneficiaries are invited to donate, if they can, and Communiteers are offered expenses.
Annie Clewlow, Communicare’s Manager, says: “We’re thrilled to be working with Sophie again and collaborating on this competition at CommuniBakes and I’m really looking forward to seeing all the entries. Nuncheon sounds like a great idea and I’m definitely going to start eating it.”
For more information about CommuniBakes, which is at 21, St James Road in Shirley, and its Nuncheon competition, please visit its website communibakes.co.uk.
- image: Bakery team member Kieren Jones with novelist Sophie Irwin outside CommuniBakes.
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