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ARCHIVED - Bon appétit!
A Celebration of Canadian Cookbooks

Archived Content

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History of Canadian Cookbooks

The Culture of Cooking

Preface
Some of Today's Favourite Cooks
The Multicultural Kitchen

The Multicultural Kitchen

Canada is often spoken of as a country of immigrants, and we take pride in our multicultural heritage. As each ethnic group settled here, its particular foods and special ways of cooking became a part of the way we cook and eat. Today we are able to enjoy an international cuisine that includes a wide range of styles and flavours: pea soup and tourtières, oatmeal and shortbread, borscht and perogies, kugel and knishes, cabbage soup and cheese dumplings, dim sum, pastas and frittatas, jerk chicken and rotis, lemon grass and peanut dipping sauce, and curries of all kinds. As immigrants continue to arrive from different cultures and regions of the world, new and delicious tastes continue to be added, making all our kitchens multicultural.

Cover of cookbook, A TREASURE FOR MY DAUGHTER; A REFERENCE BOOK OF JEWISH FESTIVALS WITH MENUS AND RECIPES, with a gold title and Star of David on a blue background

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Title page of cookbook, A TREASURE FOR MY DAUGHTER: A REFERENCE BOOK OF JEWISH FESTIVALS WITH MENUS AND RECIPES

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Page 89 of cookbook, A TREASURE FOR MY DAUGHTER: A REFERENCE BOOK OF JEWISH FESTIVALS WITH MENUS AND RECIPES, with a menu for Passover and recipes for Charoset, Knadlech and Potato Stuffing

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A Treasure for My Daughter: A Reference Book of Jewish Festivals with Menus and Recipes. Edited by Bessie W. Batist; recipe section edited by Sarah Ein, Ann Warshaw and Mary Davids. Montréal: Ethel Epstein Ein Chapter of Hadassah, 1950

"This volume has been written for the purpose of answering the questions of our young Jewish homemakers who, in their desire to observe the Jewish traditions, often find themselves uncertain of the details in carrying out these practices" (p. xi).

Cover of cookbook, TRADITIONAL UKRAINIAN COOKERY

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Page 49 of cookbook, TRADITIONAL UKRAINIAN COOKERY, with an illustration of a bowl of soup and a text about borscht

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Savella Stechishin. Traditional Ukrainian Cookery. Winnipeg: Trident Press, 1957

"Ukrainian Canadians have brought with them from their native land a wealth of their culture with truly priceless treasures of a tangible character as well as intangible spiritual values.... their enthusiasm for their own native dishes never wanes" (p. 9). In addition to the recipes, the cultural significance of Ukrainian food and ceremonies is described.

Cover of cookbook, TASTY ARMENIAN DISHES, with line drawings of vegetables and a kebab in the lower left corner

Tasty Armenian Dishes. Edited by Armen Torunian. Montréal: Ladies' Association of the First Armenian Evangelical Church, 1972

Recipe books for and about different cultural groups in Canada vary from the full-colour, expensively produced titles to the simplest, such as this one, which is full of mouth-watering recipes.