I discovered easy recipes at Lancing Pumpkin Fest, inspiring families as part of environmental charity Hubbub's #EatYourPumpkin campaign

Private chef Richard Green created recipes especially for the event at Lancing Parish Hall on Thursday, October 31, and was busy preparing them in the kitchen all morning, while the children enjoyed pumpkin-related crafts and games in the Jubilee Hall.

Lancing Parish Council and Adur Voluntary Action teamed up to organise the event to help save pumpkins from the bin this Hallowe'en and I was pleased to join them for the community feast.

It was great to see the children trying the different dishes and hugely helpful that everyone was given a pack of recipe cards to take home, along with other tips for how to recycle their pumpkins.

Fran Corney, community and comms officer at Lancing Parish Council, said: "Our goal is to inspire the Lancing community to embrace pumpkin consumption and reduce food waste during this season as well as providing free activities for local families.

"You can get an average of six meals out of a pumpkin and they make a great addition to a soup or curry and taste fantastic with a wide range of flavours, including ginger, chilli and sage.”

As I watched Richard prepare the wraps, he told me he had combined cream cheese, pumpkin puree, a tandoori spice, mayonnaise, barbecue sauce, red cabbage, green cabbage, pulled pumpkin, red onion, coriander and rocket in the filling.

After trying different ideas, Richard said he had found combining them all in a kind of paste worked best. They smelled delicious and I can confirm they tasted it, too! He had said the tandoori would not come over too strongly in the mix and he was right, it just added a lovely flavour.

When the pumpkin and rosemary focaccia came out of the oven, we tried it warm and it was so soft. The pumpkin gave it an orangey colour and there was pumpkin puree in a bowl for dipping.

Richard said his roast pumpkin and goats cheese tart was an easy recipe. He recommended cutting up the whole pumpkin and cooking it in the oven first, then it could be stored for about five days and used in different ways, such as the tart.

The three sweet treats were pumpkin cup cakes, spiced sponge pumpkin cake and pumpkin double chocolate brownies. Richard said he had included pumpkin seeds in the brownies to give a bit of crunch.

Everything was so tasty and it was great to see people tucking in to dishes they perhaps wouldn't normally think to cook at home.

Saffi Price, chief executive at Adur Voluntary Action, said: "At AVA, one of our core values is to be environmentally responsible, and these events provide a fantastic opportunity to promote sustainability.

"We’re committed to raising awareness about reducing food waste and offering creative ideas for reusing carved pumpkins once the Halloween celebrations are over. By helping people reduce the amount of food sent to landfill, we aim to make a positive impact on our community and the environment."

Hubbub’s #EatYourPumpkin is all about reducing food waste, boosting reuse and improving access to nature.

Mark Breen, senior creative partner at Hubbub, said: “For 11 years we’ve been inspiring the public to eat their pumpkins at Halloween. This year we’re sharing fun ideas to decorate pumpkins instead of carving them, to help them keep for longer and give people more time to cook them.”

To try out Richard’s recipes at home, visit lancingparishcouncil.gov.uk/2024/10/07/lancing-pumpkin-fest and follow the link to the PDFs.