London Month of the Dead - The Black Swan

DARK FEASTS The Sinister Side of Festive Dining with Dr Alessandra Pino On Saturday the 6th December 2025 at 3:30 pm Will you accept Dr Alessandra Pino’s invitation to explore the darker palate of festive fare: a feast of memory, trauma and the uncanny, served not at the table, but through tales of Gothic imagination? In The Woman in Black, pale and raisin tarts, pies, whisky and mulled wine are savoured amid the fog of a ghost-haunted Christmas Eve. In Jane Eyre, hot negus is poured as seasonal comfort — but thickens the air with dread. In Frankenstein, the “year without a summer” leaves the festive table barren. And in Rosemary’s Baby, a Christmas card arrives like a poisoned confection, sealing a domestic pact with something infernal. From the unshared meals of The Heart Is a Lonely Hunter to the uneasy indulgence of seasonal treats, this illustrated talk delves into how food and drink at Christmas become more than ritual — they become memory, burden, and offering. This is not the Christmas of crackers and cheer. It is a season of haunted banquets and uncanny offerings — where every toast may summon the dead, and every bite tastes of sorrow, longing, or unease. Pull up a chair. The Gothic table is set — for your imagination. Tickets £12.50 including a Gothic Punch and 20% donation to the King's Chaplaincy Trust to support medical students. Please click here to purchase. Dr Alessandra Pino Dr. Alessandra Pino holds a PhD in Food, Cultural Memory, and the Gothic from the University of Westminster, following a decade working alongside a Michelin-starred chef. Her research explores the intersections of food, the supernatural, and cultural memory, with a particular focus on developing the original framework of dark food. This work is introduced in her chapter published in The Palgrave Handbook of Literary Memory Studies (2025). She is the co-author of A Gothic Cookbook (2024) and a regular contributor to Haunted Magazine and Rue Morgue. Alessandra co-hosts A is for Apple, a podcast that traces the cultural histories of food; Fear Feasts, which delves into horror through the lens of consumption; and Gothic Italiano, a series uncovering lost or little-known Italian Gothic texts. She is a member of the Guild of Food Writers.

DARK FEASTS
The Sinister Side of Festive Dining with Dr Alessandra Pino
On Saturday the 6th December 2025 at 3:30 pm

Will you accept Dr Alessandra Pino’s invitation to explore the darker palate of festive fare: a feast of memory, trauma and the uncanny, served not at the table, but through tales of Gothic imagination?

In The Woman in Black, pale and raisin tarts, pies, whisky and mulled wine are savoured amid the fog of a ghost-haunted Christmas Eve. In Jane Eyre, hot negus is poured as seasonal comfort — but thickens the air with dread. In Frankenstein, the “year without a summer” leaves the festive table barren. And in Rosemary’s Baby, a Christmas card arrives like a poisoned confection, sealing a domestic pact with something infernal.

From the unshared meals of The Heart Is a Lonely Hunter to the uneasy indulgence of seasonal treats, this illustrated talk delves into how food and drink at Christmas become more than ritual — they become memory, burden, and offering.

This is not the Christmas of crackers and cheer. It is a season of haunted banquets and uncanny offerings — where every toast may summon the dead, and every bite tastes of sorrow, longing, or unease.

Pull up a chair. The Gothic table is set — for your imagination.

Tickets £12.50 including a Gothic Punch and 20% donation to the King's Chaplaincy Trust to support medical students. Please click here to purchase.

Dr Alessandra Pino
Dr. Alessandra Pino holds a PhD in Food, Cultural Memory, and the Gothic from the University of Westminster, following a decade working alongside a Michelin-starred chef. Her research explores the intersections of food, the supernatural, and cultural memory, with a particular focus on developing the original framework of dark food. This work is introduced in her chapter published in The Palgrave Handbook of Literary Memory Studies (2025).

She is the co-author of A Gothic Cookbook (2024) and a regular contributor to Haunted Magazine and Rue Morgue. Alessandra co-hosts A is for Apple, a podcast that traces the cultural histories of food; Fear Feasts, which delves into horror through the lens of consumption; and Gothic Italiano, a series uncovering lost or little-known Italian Gothic texts.

She is a member of the Guild of Food Writers.