This Hallowe’en, remember trick-or-treat is actually British

Trick-or-treat is yet another US import, right?  Wrong: trick-or-treating has its foundations firmly rooted here in the UK and can be traced back to the middle ages.

Soul cakes were traditionally made for All Saints Day or All Souls' Day to celebrate the dead. The cakes, often simply referred to as souls, were given out to soulers (mainly consisting of children and the poor) who would go from door to door on Hallowe’en singing and saying prayers for the dead.  Each cake eaten would represent a soul being freed from Purgatory. The practice of giving and eating soul cakes is seen as the origin of modern trick-or-treating.

81% of Plymouth citizens thought that trick-or-treat originated in the US, 6% higher than the national UK average of 75% and only 11% of Plymouth residents thought that the celebration was UK originated, which is 4% lower than the national average of 15%. The remainder of those surveyed did not know where trick-or-treat came from.  

Glaswegians were the most aware that trick or treat was a UK originated tradition with 25% of those asked knowing its UK heritage. Norwich residents had the lowest awareness of trick-or-treat’s origins with only 7% saying it originated in the UK.

The findings were discovered by new circular UK designed and manufactured kitchen towel brand Ora.

Oday Abbosh, CEO of Better All Round, the producers of Ora said:

“We’re big believers that everyday life should be fun as well as functional. The UK is obsessed with baking right now, and lots of home bakers use kitchen towel, so it felt right to update an old recipe and tell people the ‘trick-or-treat is British’ story at the same time. 

"The original Soul Cake recipe didn’t taste that nice so we took inspiration from it and developed the Soul Cookie instead giving the traditional a modern-day twist, much like we’ve done with kitchen towel.”