Editing Halloween (section)

==Food==
[[File:HalloweenPumpkin2.jpg|thumb|left|Pumpkins for sale during Halloween]]

On All Hallows' Eve, many Western Christian denominations encourage [[Meat-free days|abstinence from meat]], giving rise to a variety of [[Christian vegetarianism|vegetarian]] foods associated with this day.<ref name=mader>{{cite web|last=Mader |first=Isabel |date=30 September 2014 |title=Halloween Colcannon |work=Simmer Magazine |url=http://www.simmermagazine.com/2014/09/30/halloween-colcannon-recipe/ |access-date=3 October 2014 |quote=All Hallow's Eve was a Western (Anglo) Christian holiday that revolved around commemorating the dead using humor to intimidate death itself. Like all holidays, All Hallow's Eve involved traditional treats. The church encouraged an abstinence from meat, which created many vegetarian dishes. |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141005201753/http://www.simmermagazine.com/2014/09/30/halloween-colcannon-recipe/ |archive-date=5 October 2014 }}</ref>
[[File:Tastee-Candy-Apple-Red-Caramel-wPeanuts.jpg|thumb|right|upright=0.65|A [[candy apple]]]]
[[File:Candy-Corn.jpg|thumb|upright=0.65|Candy corn]]

Because in the [[Northern Hemisphere]] Halloween comes in the wake of the yearly apple harvest, [[candy apple]]s (known as toffee apples outside North America), [[Caramel apple|caramel apples]] or taffy apples are common Halloween treats made by rolling whole apples in a sticky sugar syrup or caramel, sometimes followed by rolling them in nuts.

At one time, candy apples were commonly given to trick-or-treating children, but the practice rapidly waned in the wake of widespread rumors that some individuals were embedding items like pins and [[Poisoned candy myths|razor blades in the apples]] in the United States.<ref name="rogers_r">Rogers, Nicholas (2002). "Razor in the Apple: Struggle for Safe and Sane Halloween, ''c''. 1920–1990", ''Halloween: From Pagan Ritual to Party Night'', pp. 78–102. New York: Oxford University Press. {{ISBN|0-19-516896-8}}.</ref> While there is evidence of such incidents,<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.snopes.com/horrors/mayhem/needles.asp |title=Urban Legends Reference Pages: Pins and Needles in Halloween Candy |website=Snopes.com |date=2 November 2000 |access-date=31 October 2008 |archive-date=29 October 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211029222107/http://www.snopes.com/horrors/mayhem/needles.asp |url-status=live }}</ref> relative to the degree of reporting of such cases, actual cases involving malicious acts are extremely rare and have never resulted in serious injury. Nonetheless, many parents assumed that such heinous practices were rampant because of the mass media. At the peak of the hysteria, some hospitals offered free X-rays of children's Halloween hauls in order to find evidence of tampering. Virtually all of the few known candy poisoning incidents involved parents who poisoned their own children's candy.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.livescience.com/8839-poisoned-halloween-candy-trick-treat-myth.html|title=Poisoned Halloween Candy: Trick, Treat or Myth? |last=Nixon|first=Robin|date=27 October 2010|publisher=LiveScience |access-date=23 January 2011|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120111081950/http://www.livescience.com/8839-poisoned-halloween-candy-trick-treat-myth.html|archive-date=11 January 2012}}</ref>

One custom that persists in modern-day Ireland is the baking (or more often nowadays, the purchase) of a [[barmbrack]] ({{langx|ga|báirín breac}}), which is a light fruitcake, into which a plain ring, a coin, and other charms are placed before baking.<ref name="Barmbrack">{{cite news|title=Top ten Irish Halloween traditions and memories you may share|url=https://www.irishcentral.com/culture/craic/top-irish-halloween-memories-traditions|access-date=23 October 2018|agency=Ireland Central|archive-date=24 October 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181024035306/https://www.irishcentral.com/culture/craic/top-irish-halloween-memories-traditions|url-status=live}}</ref> It is considered fortunate to be the lucky one who finds it.<ref name="Barmbrack"/> It has also been said that those who get a ring will find their true love in the ensuing year. This is similar to the tradition of [[king cake]] at the festival of [[Epiphany (holiday)|Epiphany]]. Halloween-themed foods are also produced by companies in the lead up to the night, for example [[Cadbury]] releasing Goo Heads (similar to [[Cadbury Creme Egg|Creme Eggs]]) in spooky wrapping.<ref>{{cite news |title=Spooky twist on classic Cadbury Creme Egg in time for Halloween |url=https://www.derbytelegraph.co.uk/whats-on/food-drink/spooky-twist-classic-cadbury-creme-2069709 |access-date=25 August 2023 |newspaper=Derby Telegraph}}</ref>
[[File:Halloween_cake_with_a_jack-o'-lantern.jpg|thumb|A Halloween cake decorated with ghosts, spider webs, skulls and long bones, and spiders. The cake is topped with a [[jack-o'-lantern]].]]
Foods such as cakes will often be decorated with Halloween colors (typically black, orange, and purple) and motifs for parties and events. Popular themes include pumpkins, spiders, and body parts.<ref name="Crocker 2012">{{cite book |last=Crocker |first=B. |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=62qtbyB8yY4C&pg=PA132 |title=Betty Crocker Halloween Cookbook |publisher=Houghton Mifflin Harcourt |year=2012 |isbn=978-0-544-17814-4 |series=Betty Crocker Cooking |page=132}}</ref><ref name="Hood 2014 p. 119">{{cite book |last=Hood |first=K.J.M. |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=GthuBAAAQBAJ&pg=PA119 |title=Halloween Delights Cookbook: A Collection of Halloween Recipes |publisher=Whispering Pine Press International, Incorporated |year=2014 |isbn=978-1-59434-181-6 |series=Cookbook Delights Holiday Series |pages=119–138}}</ref><ref name="McCrum 2015">{{cite web |last=McCrum |first=Kirstie |date=14 October 2015 |title=Trick or treat? Halloween cakes look horrifying but are they devilishly tasty? |url=http://www.irishmirror.ie/news/weird-news/trick-treat-gory-halloween-cakes-6634322 |access-date=6 February 2016 |website=[[Irish Mirror]]}}</ref>

List of foods associated with Halloween:
* [[Barmbrack]] (Ireland)
* [[Bonfire toffee]] (Great Britain)
* [[Candy apple]]s/[[toffee apple]]s (Great Britain and Ireland)
* [[Candy apple]]s, [[candy corn]], [[candy pumpkin]]s (North America)
* Monkey nuts ([[peanut]]s in their shells) (Ireland and Scotland)
* [[Caramel apple]]s
* [[Caramel corn]]
* [[Colcannon]] (Ireland; see [[#Christian observances|below]])
* [[Candy|Sweets]]/[[candy]]/[[chocolate]], often with novelty shapes like skulls, [[Candy pumpkin|pumpkins]], bats, etc.
* Roasted [[Pumpkin seed|pumpkin seeds]]
* Roasted [[sweet corn]]
* [[Soul cake]]s
* [[Pumpkin pie]]