Celebrating Yorkshire Pudding Day with a proper toad in the hole

My appetite for this culinary delight is hardwired into my very own Yorkshire DNA (and probably my waistline). Maybe it’s because I’m a native of ‘God’s Own Country’, or simply because my mum makes the best Yorkshire puddings on the planet.

I’ve had Yorkshire puddings in almost every way, shape and form: the usual Sunday lunch (and that’s every Sunday lunch, not just roast beef); a starter before a meal (a very Yorkshire tradition); even the occasional dessert with poached fruit and custard (don’t knock it until you’ve tried it).

I feel a little bit sorry for people when they (mostly from the southern half of the country, admittedly) are shocked to learn that I’ve eaten Yorkshire puddings as part of many meals other than a Sunday lunch with all the trimmings.

The origins of the Yorkshire pudding actually date all the way back to the early 1700s. The first recipe for a ‘dripping pudding’ (the dripping comes from roasting meat) appeared in a book called The Whole Duty of the Woman in 1737. But the Yorkshire pudding began its rise to fame in 1747 when it appeared in The Art of Cookery Made Plain and Easy by Hannah Glasse. She was one of the most famous food authors of the time, and her book was a bestseller for a century after its first publication.

The first Sunday in February every year is designated as British Yorkshire Pudding Day – a special day to enjoy this quintessential British dish.

This is the perfect reason for me to get cooking in one of our kitchen studios and rustle up a proper toad in the hole using the family recipe. We’ve even captured the whole thing as our own celebration in honour of British Yorkshire Pudding Day.

The thing is, there are lots of these more unusual, niche food and drink days to be aware of throughout the entire year. A few of my other favourites are British Pie Week (yup, a whole week of pies!), National Doughnut Day, International Bacon Day and Taco Day.

The biggest events in the calendar (Valentine’s Day, Halloween, Christmas, etc.) can feel like they are dominated by huge brands and retail players who deliver masses of targeted content. This often leaves many other brands and retailers facing the challenge of how to effectively cut through this noise – something that we can help with, of course.

So, for some brands and retailers, there can be a great opportunity to build a mini-campaign around smaller holidays and one-off social events to make a bigger splash in a less-crowded digital space.

This was the kind of thinking behind Aldi’s £2.5m ‘Favourite Things’ campaign for Easter in 2015. Easter media slots offered a cost-effective way to promote their premium Specially Selected range. And Aldi’s continued growth means they’ve become able to compete strongly at Christmas too.

It’s worth looking ahead at these smaller holidays and one-off social events to see whether your brand could achieve more by going big on a smaller day.