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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
Cooks and cookbook lovers across the country have written and published many small, specialized books. Some of the most interesting are those that concentrate on a single food item that is particularly Canadian. Here are a few of these special cookbooks.
From sweetbreads to brains, cooks of the 1920s wasted nothing in their kitchens. Today, with the exception of liver, North American cooks rarely cook the offal (internal organs) of animals.
A charming collection of local recipes from Lunenburg, Nova Scotia, compiled (and handwritten) by the Ladies Auxiliary of the Lunenburg Hospital Society.
Edna Staebler. Food that Really Schmecks: Mennonite Country Cooking. Toronto: Ryerson Press, 1968
"Throughout [Waterloo] County, recipes were generously swapped and invented till a way of cooking developed that is unique and indigenous to this heaven-blessed area that rejoices in its cultivation, preparation and tranquil digestion of irresistibly good-schmecking (tasting) food" (p. 3).
Janette Bertrand. Les recettes de Janette et le grain de sel de Jean. Montréal: Éditions du Jour, 1968
This is one of Quebec's most popular cookbooks. Written by media star Janette Bertrand, it is said to have financed a whole generation of Quebec novels for publisher Jacques Hébert. The recipes, collected over the years by Janette are, in her words, not those available in most books but her own favourites.
