Customer Reviews

A Continual Feast: A Cookbook to Celebrate the Joys of Family and Faith Throughout the Christian Year

5 star:		(6)
4 star:		(4)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(1)
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This is a really helpful cookbook, especially if you didn't come out of a liturgical tradition orginally. Evelyn Vitz has laid the book out in a calendar fashion for the most part, but has sections on days of fasting and abstinence and saints days. I really love her recipe for plum pudding and use it every year now. I had tried several other recipes before hers, but hers is definitely the best. We have also included a lot of her other suggestions in our family celebrations. This is a cookbook that I refer to frequently (especially during Advent, Christmas, Lent and Easter).

This book is great for any Christian family that wants to add a bit more traditional Christian emphasis to their lives. You don't have to be Catholic or Orthodox to enjoy it and use it. You may find yourself understanding Catholic and Orthodox traditions once you've read it, however.

This book passes on traditions that some families failed to get from Great Grandmother before she died. If you are from a Christian family, it will help you get in touch with your roots (as well as give you a lot of delicious recipes to try).

I've owned and used this cookbook for at least 13 years. It is one of my favorites not only for it's excellent explanation of liturgical feasting and fasting (What other cookbook gives you a chapter on fasting?) but also because some of my family's favorite recipes are in it. We use "Four-egg cake" for nearly every birthday, baptism or first communion. My family actually loves the recipe for "Black fruitcake," and I get frequent complements when I bring her simply delicious "Cranberry-orange sauce" to holiday dinners. And Easter just wouldn't be Easter for my kids without the "Lamb cake."

I own the hardcover edition and my chief complaint is that it is not spiral bound to lay flat while cooking.

We have tried one or two recipes that just didn't taste all that great, but were culturally interesting to try. ("Salad of the good night/Ensalada de Nochebuena" from Mexico comes to mind. Perhaps because it calls for beets, apples, oranges, bananas, radishes and peanuts together. Sounded so weird I just had to try it. But I guess it's an acquired taste.)

I still enjoy reading her comments on the feast days throughout the year. I can't help but think of her recipe for "St. John's wine" every December 27th. Simple to make (always a plus) and warms the inside when it's cold and blustery outside.

As an Anglo-Catholic who was not raised as one, I have had many questions about customs and liturgies. This is one of the sources I reach for first when I need answers.

The focus of this book is on home practices, on customs and especially on foods. However, this is not just a collection of recipes for various Saint's days, but also includes information about each saint and about the seasons of the liturgical year, starting, quite properly, with a discussion of "Sunday" since each Sunday is a mini-celebration of Easter.

If you are raising a family and wish to do so in a Christ-centered way, you should have a copy of this book. While it is aimed primarily at Catholic and Orthodox families there is much material here that would be useful in a Protestant family, particularly one that wishes to explore the two thousand years of Christian tradition rather than "re-inventing the wheel."

This is a nice book with some fun information about saints and their days. After buying it, our family started to celebrate name days (any excuse to have a celebration). I wish it had more ideas for meals and more saint days, but the ones already in there are well done.

This book is a wealth of information and well-chosen, very good recipes. It represents traditional dishes from Western and Eastern rites, and explains the evolution and meaning of nearly every one. The recipes are organized according to the liturgical year and also include recipes for special days, e.g. saints' feast days. Dishes range in complexity from simple vegetable ones to cakes baked from scratch. (I use the lamb (shaped) cake recipe every Easter now.) Ideas geared to children are often included. Great gift idea!

As an avid cookbook reader and home cook, I love A Continual Feast not just for the delicious and practical recipes, but for the way it reminds me that every day is an opportunity to celebrate with food. My children love to cook with me, and this book makes that process more interesting and meaningful by connecting our food to holidays, feasts and traditions. It's great to be able to tell a story or otherwise give a good reason for why we are making a particular dish, and I believe this that knowledge makes the kids more eager to try something new. Vitz's straightforward voice encourages us to tackle dishes, such as the yeasted Edelweiss coffee cake or transforming leftovers into turnovers, that otherwise may have seemed beyond us. The results are generally excellent.

There are too many gaps in this book and I find myself looking for something else to replace or complement it. For example,today is the feast day of Saint Therese the Little Flower and there is no mention of her, which is dissappointing,especially for my homeschooled daughter for whom this book was purchased. She does however very much enjoy the information in this book and would appreciate any recomendations to fill in the gaps.

A cookbook for the whole year, and of course, especially during the Advent/Christmas/Lent/Easter seasons. Wonderfully informative and a well-written, pleasurable read.
So far every recipe I have tried has turned out perfectly and the recipes are easy to follow. I am a homeschooling mother of 3 little blessings and the whole family has enjoyed living the liturgical year with this cookbook. I highly recommend it.

My cooking is simple, ordinary, and I seldom follow recipes. But one recipe I have gone back to again and again is the Four-Egg Cake in A Continual Feast cookbook by Evelyn Birge Vitz. That is a wonderful sacrament cake--First Holy Communions, Confirmations, Baptisms, Weddings-- I have made it again and again, for over twelve years, and have had consistent, excellent results!

The recipe is a wonderful from-scratch experience, and the kids love to help as each step progresses towards a marvelous tasting result! Vitz' book is much more than a cookbook, it is a lesson in Catholic traditions in the kitchen.... I have recommended it for many, many years! I have also given it as gift many times!

This book is a great help for planning meals that celebrate the bigger feast days in the Church Year. The ideas included help the preparer to add more meaning to the celebration with the food being used, as well as to educate those who partake!