{{short description|Sweet bun with dried fruit and spices}} {{Use dmy dates|date=April 2022}} {{Infobox prepared food | name = Colston bun | image = | caption = | alternate_name = | country = England | region = [[Bristol]] | creator = | course = | type = Sweet [[bread]] | served = | main_ingredient = [[Baker's yeast|Yeast]] dough, [[dried fruit]], [[candied peel]], sweet [[spice]]s | variations = | calories = | other = }}
A '''Colston bun''' is a sweet [[bun]] made of a [[yeast]] dough flavoured with dried fruit such as [[Zante currant|currant]]s, candied peel, and sweet [[spice]]s. It is made in the city of [[Bristol]], England, and named after [[Edward Colston]], a local merchant and [[Member of parliament|MP]], who created the original recipe. There are two size categories: "dinner plate", with eight wedge marks on the surface, and "ha'penny staver", an individual-sized bun.<ref name="Davidson2014">{{cite book|author=Alan Davidson|title=The Oxford Companion to Food|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=RL6LAwAAQBAJ&pg=PA118|date=11 August 2014|publisher=Oxford University Press|isbn=978-0-19-967733-7|page=118}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|title=One Chance: A Memoir|author=Paul Potts|page=37|publisher=Weinstein Publishing|year=2013|isbn=978-1-602-86239-5|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=haMPAAAAQBAJ&pg=PT37}}</ref>
The Colston bun is traditionally distributed to children on Colston Day (13 November), which celebrates the granting of a [[royal charter]] to the [[Society of Merchant Venturers]] by [[Charles I of England|King Charles I]] in 1639. The custom originated from the [[Colston's School]], which was established for poor children in Bristol during the early 18th century. Originally, the child would receive a large "dinner plate" bun with eight wedge marks so that individual portions could be broken off and shared with their family, plus a "staver" which could be eaten immediately to "stave off" hunger, and a gift of 2 [[shilling (English coin)|shillings]] (now 10p) from the wives of the Merchant Venturers. The gifts of buns and money were distributed to some school children in Bristol on Colston Day by the Colston Society.<ref>{{cite news |url=http://www.bristolpost.co.uk/Undefined-Headline/story-11233081-detail/story.html |archive-url=https://archive.today/20140920002845/http://www.bristolpost.co.uk/Undefined-Headline/story-11233081-detail/story.html |url-status=dead |archive-date=20 September 2014 |title=Every picture tells a story – Colston Buns |work=Bristol Post |date=10 November 2008 |accessdate=19 September 2014 }}</ref>
Colston buns are not widely known outside Bristol, and are generally only available for sale on occasion in independent bakers around the city.<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/food/0/27198065|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140503001421/http://www.bbc.co.uk/food/0/27198065|url-status=dead|archive-date=3 May 2014|title=Bristol and the West: On the food map|work=BBC Food|date=2 May 2014|accessdate=9 August 2016}}</ref> In the 21st century, the name has become controversial because of Edward Colston's connections to the [[Atlantic slave trade|slave trade]].<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.bristolpost.co.uk/news/bristol-news/buns-sermons-slave-songs-how-652628|title=Buns, sermons and slave songs - how slave trader Edward Colston was awkwardly commemorated on Anti-Slavery Day|date=20 October 2017|newspaper=Bristol Post|accessdate=8 June 2020}}</ref> The Colston Society, which had operated for 275 years commemorating Colston and supporting the Colston Day distribution of the bun, decided to disband in 2020 after the [[George Floyd protests in the United Kingdom|George Floyd protests]] and associated toppling of [[Statue of Edward Colston|Colston's statue in Bristol]]; the society deemed it inappropriate to continue to memorialise him.<ref name=bp-20200913>{{cite news |url=https://www.bristolpost.co.uk/news/bristol-news/exclusive-bristols-original-colston-society-4512321 |title=Bristol's original Colston Society to disband after 275 years |last=Cork |first=Tristan |newspaper=Bristol Post |date=13 September 2020 |access-date=14 September 2020}}</ref>
==See also== * [[List of British breads]] * [[List of buns]] * {{portal-inline|Food}}
==References== {{reflist}}
==External links== * [https://justbloggs.wordpress.com/2015/09/17/2886/ Recipe for Colston buns]
{{British bread}}
[[Category:British breads]] [[Category:Yeast breads]] [[Category:Sweet breads]] [[Category:Buns]] [[Category:Culture in Bristol]] [[Category:British cakes]]