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Digestible Bits and Bites #30 - October 2015
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Digestible Bits and Bites
The monthly newsletter of the
Culinary Historians of Canada
Number 30, October 2015
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Teerex Corn Cob Holders, 2012 by Lana Filippone, from the art exhibit Utensil, one of a food-themed set of exhibitions currently running at Toronto's Harbourfront Centre (see full decription below). Photo by Nick Chase
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CHC News and Upcoming Events
  
2015 Hall of Fame Inductees
As its sponsor for a second year, CHC is proud to announce the 2015 inductees to the Taste Canada Hall of Fame, first made public at the Taste Canada Gala (seemore about the Taste Canada gala below).
- Rose Murray (born in 1941): From writing, to teaching, to television and radio appearances across Canada, over a long career, Murray has shaped our perspective of Canadian cuisine. She has authored well over ten books including two Taste Canada Gold Award winners―Canada's Favourite Recipes (with Elizabeth Baird, 2012) and Hungry for Comfort (2003)―and A Taste of Canada (Honourable Mention, 2008). Her first work, The Christmas Cookbook (1979), remains a treasured resource, and she has contributed to many books by others, including the Canadian Living cookbooks. Her latest book, Rose Murray’s A-Z Vegetable Cookbook, was originally published in 1983 and has been revised to include an additional 100 recipes developed by home cooks across Canada. Rose’s knowledge and love for her region and Canada are also documented in national magazines and newspapers, from Canadian Living, Elm Street and Harrowsmith to The Globe and Mail and the Toronto Star. Her many recipes for Foodland Ontario deserve recognition, although never credited by the government.
- Nellie Lyle Pattinson (1879–1953): Pattinson wrote the Canadian Cook Book, published by Ryerson Press in 1923 and reprinted twenty times up to 1949, always in a plain blue binding. Produced to meet the need for a recipe book for girls learning domestic science in the new technical schools, the blue cookbook quickly became the textbook in schools nationwide and also a favourite bride’s gift, despite its modest appearance.
- Helen Wattie (1911–2009) and Elinor Donaldson Whyte (born in 1926): These two young teachers at the Ryerson Institute of Technology (now University) updated Pattinson’s text to reflect Canada’s prosperity and changing food habits after World War II. Their innovative 1953 edition, called Nellie Lyle Pattinson’s Canadian Cook Book, included―for the first time in Canada―a chapter of “Regional Dishes” that included culinary history, immigration patterns and distinctive recipes. Their Pizza (Ontario section) may be the first printed recipe for pizza in a Canadian book. Wattie and Donaldson produced several updated editions to reflect an evolving society; and by 1969, they had integrated the regional recipes into the main text, recognizing they were now part of “our heritage of food.”
CHC Seeks a Regular Program Venue
The CHC Board is looking for an inexpensive space for monthly programs. We have all sorts of program ideas and no place that is reasonable to invite you to participate with us. Do you know a business, office or other organization that has space available to accommodate 50 to 75 people? Do you know of places that have a kitchen on the premises at a modest price where we can do hands-on demos? Please contact info@culinaryhistorians.ca with your leads. Thank you!
Sunday, October 4
CHC Day of Beer
A visit to BEER! The Exhibit at the Waterloo Regional Museum followed at 1 p.m. by a three-course lunch at DH Food & Lodging (formerly Benjamin’s Inn, 1430 King St N), a refurbished 1852 inn in the village of St. Jacob and a 2:30 tour of Block Three Brewing Co. (1430 King St N), a new craft microbrewery in Waterloo region. Admission: $40 (members) $45 (non-members). Pre-registration required by September 30.
Sunday, November 11
CHC at Royal Agricultural Winter Fair
CHC will once again be an official part of the Royal, with a cooking demo and a presentation on historic foods, times and table settings. Last year we looked back at WWI (the picture above shows Anya Craig as a nurse of the period with some of the wartime recipes that were sampled.) This year, our theme is "Entertaining in the 1920s", with cooking demonstrations and tastings. As always, we’re looking for volunteers to help out; if you’d like to get involved, please contact Luisa Giacometti (luisa@culinaryhistorians.ca).
Half-hour demonstrations will take place at 11:15 a.m. and 2 p.m. on the Burnbrae Farms Food and Lifestyle Stage at the Direct Energy Centre on the Exhibition Grounds in Toronto.(Don't forget to have a look at the Heritage Jam and Pickle competition winners, whose entries will be displayed prominently at the Fair.)
Tuesday November 24
Historical Holidays at the Thomas Fisher Rare Book Library
A memorable and intimate evening to kick off the holiday season from 6 to 8 p.m. Experience a unique talk by Elizabeth Ridolfo, Rare Book Librarian at the Thomas Fisher Library (120 St George Street in Toronto), as she highlights their historical cookbook collection, and participate in special curated tours.
During the reception, savour surprise treats recreated by CHC volunteers from historical recipes selected from their books. Get your tickets soon, as we anticipate a sold-out event! Contact Shirley Lum with any questions via email at shirley@culinaryhistorians.ca. Tickets are available online. Admission: $15 (CHC members). $25 (non-members). $10 (students with ID)
Saturday & Sunday, December 5 & 6
CHC at Fort York Frost Fair
CHC president Fiona Lucas will offer a talk on sugar-plums, and CHC will present a cookbook sale and information table. (Volunteers welcome!)
Saturday, February 20, 2016
Mad for Marmalade, Crazy for Citrus!
CHC's 9th annual celebration of all things citrus, held in association with Fort York Historic Site. This year, the theme is Persian; highlights include workshops, talks, tastings, a citrus-themed lunch and a marmalade preserving and baking competition.
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Join the Culinary Historians of Canada!
CHC members are part of a network of people dedicated to exploring Canada’s culinary history. Benefits include discounts on special events and access to members-only activities like the Picnic in Prince Edward County. In addition, members are listed in the CHC directory and receive their own copy. The membership year runs from September to August. Join us today!
- Regular Membership: $30 (1 year) $55 (2 years)
- Supporting Membership: $55 (1 year) $75 (2 years)
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News and Opportunities
Taste Canada–The Food Writing Award Winners
On September 21, Taste Canada announce its 2015 award winners:
- Culinary Narratives/Narrations Culinaires: Secrets of a Hutterite Kitchen: Unveiling the Rituals, Traditions, and Food of the Hutterite Culture by Mary-Ann Kirkby (Penguin Canada Books) and Ainsi cuisinaient les belles-sœurs dans l’œuvre de Michel Tremblay: Une traversée de notre patrimoine culinaire 1913 – 1963 by Anne Fortin (Flammarion Québec)
- General Cookbooks/ Livres de Cuisine Générale: Family Meals by Michael Smith (Penguin Canada Books) and Ensemble: Cuisine gourmande et colorée by Christelle Tanielian (Les Éditions La Presse)
- Regional/Cultural Cookbooks / Livres de cuisine régionale et culturelle: The SoBo Cookbook: Recipes from the Tofino Restaurant at the End of the Canadian Road by Lisa Ahier and Andrew Morrison (Appetite by Random House) and La récolte by Bernard Dubé (Bernard Dubé)
- Single-Subject Cookbooks/Livres de Cuisine Sujet Unique: Duchess Bake Shop by Giselle Courteau (Duchess Bake Shop) and Soupes-repas gourmandes by Anne-Louise Desjardins (Guy Saint-Jean, Éditeur)
- Food blog – Best Post / Blogue culinaire – meilleure publication: “Whole Roasted Cauliflower with Hazelnut, Orange, and Saffron” by Allison Day (Yummy Beet) and "Pizza 3 minutes : saucisses italiennes, épinards, tomates cerises, cœurs d’artichauts et mozzarella" by Christelle Tanielian (Christelle Is Flabbergasting)
Canadian Food Studies 2:2
Canadian Food Studies, Volume 2, Number 2 (2015) is a Special Issue on Mapping the Global Food Landscape. It's now live online. The Canadian Association for Food Studies expresses its special thanks to this issue’s guest editors, Jennifer Clapp, Annette Desmarais and Matias Margulis.
Reading Group Launches in Montreal
Alexia Moyer and Nathalie Cooke of McGill and Laura Shine of Concordia have launched a Reading Group called The Shaping of Food Tastes through the Institute for the Public Life of Arts and Ideas (IPLAI) at McGill University in Montreal. They write: "From pleasure to pain, from comfort foods to crawling critters, from historical meals to literary ones, we will explore what makes and breaks tastes. How do tastes evolve over time, and why? What is 'good food'? What, really, do we even talk about when we talk about food? Through a multidisciplinary perspective and reading of relevant texts, we will examine a series of case studies, mostly (but not exclusively) drawn from the Canadian context."
Meetings will be held on Thursdays from 6 to 8 p.m. at IPLAI (3610 McTavish, second floor), and attendees are welcome to join as many sessions as they like. Since it seems a pity to talk about food without sampling any, each meeting will include light bites and refreshments in a potluck format: all those interested are invited to bring something nice to share. Sessions will also feature a thematic recipe. For more information, contact Laura Shine at laura.r.shine@gmail.com. Upcoming themes are as follows.
Food for Thought Exhibit in Toronto
On September 25, Toronto's Harbourfront Centre unveiled Food for Thought, five new free exhibitions running until December 24 that feature 27 artists working in a variety of media, including craft, design and photography. These exhibitions explore food in all its complexity, from the celebration of the meal to food politics. They include:
- Forage - This exhibition brings together six artists (Bruce Cochrane, Thea Haines, Lisa Myers, Lynn Price, Erin Riley and Gene Threndyle) who explore the importance of food in both contemporary and historical contexts, considering environmental, social, and cultural issues.
- Food for Thought - Eight artists working in a variety of media (Johan Hallberg Campbell, Ruth Lapp, Sooyeong Lee, Paige Lindsay, David Poolman, Devin Schaffner, Amanda White and Patrick Yeung) present thoughtful, political and playful perspectives on the ways that food is grown, shared and enjoyed.
- Trading Places - Traveling with a cargo of wheat from Thunder Bay to Montreal, photographer Victoria Piersig tells a story of heavy industry and shipping infrastructure that has been displaced from the landscape by gentrification.
- The Utensil - Utensils have shaped the social mores and manners of cultures worldwide. Artists Anne Barros, Bettie Cott, Shane Weaver, Lana Filippone, Iron Design Company, Jay Joo, Teresa O’Grady-Dunlop, Anneke van Bommel and Andrée Wejsmann present an eclectic array of beautiful utensils.
- Set the Table - Work by ceramic and glass artists Marissa Alexander, Ed Colberg, Shane Weaver and Cheng’Ou Yu, who have long-standing and rich relationship with the dinner table.
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Events of Interest
THIS MONTH (October 2015)
- Saturday, October 3: A Spirited Affair, 7 p.m (Toronto) Black Creek Pioneer Village welcomes guests to be whisked into the late 1940s to listen and dance to boogie-woogie swing music while sipping on refreshments and enjoying fine foods. Admission: $80
- Sunday, October 4: CHC Day of Beer (St. Jacob). See details above.
- Friday to Sunday, October 16 to 18: Master & Commander: An Aubrey & Maturin Weekend (Toronto). Montgomery's Inn is the site of a three-day celebration of Patrick O'Brian's beloved seafaring characters Jack Aubrey and Stephen Maturin, featuring guest speaker Victor Suthren, plus workshops, demonstrations, music, dancing, Georgian food and more. Admission: Prices vary; the complete weekend is $190 including some meals. Discounts apply for students and those in Regency costume. For further details, contact JaneAustenDancing@gmail.com or 416-578-1031.
- Thursday, October 8: What is “good food"?, 6 to 8 p.m. (Montreal). A discussion and potluck through the McGill University's Institute for the Public Life of Arts and Ideas (3610 McTavish, second floor), part of the Fall 2015 Reading Group called The Shaping of Food Tastes.
- Thursday, October 15: Meet Lindy Mechefske, 11 a.m. (Picton). Clio's Book Club presents a chance to meet the author of Sir John's Table and learn more about the food from the time of Canada's First Prime Minister at Macaulay Heritage Park (23 Church Street). Tammy Lloyd of Lady Victorian Historical Presentations will prepare some of the recipes from this book to sample. Admission: Goodwill offerings accepted.
- Saturday, October 17: Hearth Cooking and Dining Workshop, 10 a.m. to 3 p..m (Pickering). Pickering Museum Village presents experienced culinary historians who will guide guests through the creation of a complete meal prepared in the open hearth of the Log House. The best part comes at the end when participants sit down to enjoy the meal and receive copies of the recipes to take home. Admission: $50. Register online using barcode 80690. 905-683-8401, 905-420-4621
- Sunday, October 18: Ah, What an excellent thing is an English Pudding, 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. (Toronto). Fort York invites participants to discover the history and cooking techniques of puddings from the 18th and 19th centuries. Admission: $75+HST. Pre-registration is required. 416-392-7455.
- Sunday, October 18: Market Gardening Over the Don, 6 to 8 p.m. (Toronto). A presentation on commercial fruit and vegetables growing in Toronto’s east end in the 19th century presented by Joanne Doucette, author of Pigs, Flowers and Bricks: a history of Leslieville. Location: Victoria Whole Food Store (1450 Gerrard Street East). Admission: Free; pre-register at tatiana@victoriawholefoods.ca or 647-346-5566.
- Thursday, October 22: Literary meals, 6 to 8 p.m. (Montreal). A discussion and potluck through the McGill University's Institute for the Public Life of Arts and Ideas (3610 McTavish, second floor), part of the Fall 2015 Reading Group called The Shaping of Food Tastes.
- Thursday, October 22: Beer Talks Series: Women Enjoying Beer, 7 to 9 p.m. (Waterloo) Waterloo Regional Museum presents a lecture as part of BEER! The Exhibit. Admission: $15+HST. Pre-register at 519-748-1914.
- Thursday to Saturday, October 22 to 24: Smithsonian Food History Weekend (Washington DC). The National Museum of American History brings together culinary leaders, researchers, practitioners, and scholars to inspire Museum visitors to understand the history of food in America and the role they play in shaping the future of food, with culinary demonstrations, tastings, talks and exhibits. This October, the theme is "innovation" in American food.
- Saturday, October 24: Bread Baking Workshop, (Picton). Friends of Macaulay House and Museums of Prince Edward County present Tammy Lloyd of Lady Victorian Historical Presentations, who will demonstrate the basics of breadmaking, 1800s style, including baking it in the wood-fired beehive oven at Macaulay House. Participants will take home their finished baked products and recipes. Admission: $65, including lunch cooked on the hearth. 613-476-2148 ext. 258
- Sunday, October 25: Loaf & Ladle Pioneer Supper (Brampton) Bovaird House presents a traditional meal. Admission: $20
- Thursday, October 29: Thirsty Thursday, 7 to 10 p.m. (Etobicoke, Ontario). Montgomery's Inn welcomes visitors to Thirsty Thursday tavern night at the Inn, where they can enjoy a glass of beer, cider, wine, or a Thomas Montgomery speciality in the restored 1847 barroom with Irish stew, fresh baked-bread and live traditional music. Free admission, cash bar, $5 for a bowl of stew while supplies last.
LOOKING AHEAD (November 2015)
- Sunday, November 11: CHC at the Royal Agricultural Winter Fair (Toronto). See details above.
- Thursday, November 12: How to change and influence taste..., 6 to 8 p.m. (Montreal). A discussion and potluck through the McGill University's Institute for the Public Life of Arts and Ideas (3610 McTavish, second floor), part of the Fall 2015 Reading Group called The Shaping of Food Tastes.
- Saturday, November 14: Bread Baking Workshop, 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. (Picton). Friends of Macaulay House and Museums of Prince Edward County present Tammy Lloyd of Lady Victorian Historical Presentations, who will demonstrate the basics of breadmaking, 1800s style, including baking it in the wood-fired beehive oven at Macaulay House. Participants will take home their finished baked products and recipes. Admission: $65, including lunch cooked on the hearth. 613-476-2148 ext. 258
- Sunday, November 22: Stir-Up Sunday, 1 to 5 p.m. (Etobicoke). Montgomery's Inn invites visitors to witness a working 19th-century commercial kitchen when the Inn’s team of Historic Cooks in period costume presents an afternoon of cooking demonstrations that focus on traditional Christmas treats like shortbread, fruitcake, mincemeat and Twelfth-Cake, following authentic historic recipes and using antique equipment, on the date traditionally set aside in England for holiday baking. Samples while supplies last! Admission: Free with admission to the Inn
- Tuesday, November 24: Historical Holidays at the Thomas Fisher Rare Book Library (Toronto). See details above.
- Thursday, November 26: Anonymity in Cookery, 6 to 8 p.m. (Montreal). A discussion and potluck through the McGill University's Institute for the Public Life of Arts and Ideas (3610 McTavish, second floor), part of the Fall 2015 Reading Group called The Shaping of Food Tastes.
- Thursday, November 26: Thirsty Thursday, 7 to 10 p.m. (Etobicoke, Ontario). Montgomery's Inn welcomes visitors to Thirsty Thursday tavern night at the Inn, where they can enjoy a glass of beer, cider, wine, or a Thomas Montgomery speciality in the restored 1847 barroom with Irish stew, fresh baked-bread and live traditional music. Free admission, cash bar, $5 for a bowl of stew while supplies last.
CONTINUING
- To December 24: Food for Thought (Toronto). Toronto's Harbourfront Centre presents five free art exhibitions that explore food in all its complexity, from the celebration of the meal to food politics
- To January 3, 2016: BEER! The Exhibit (Kitchener, Ontario). Waterloo Region Museum presents an exhibit on the history of brewing and the selling and consuming of beer in Canada, with a focus on over 175 years of brewing tradition in Waterloo Region
- Sundays: Gibson House Tea & Tour, 1 to 4:30 p.m. (Toronto). There's tea, cookies and a seat for you at the harvest table in the 1850s historic kitchen every Sunday. Free with regular admission.
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Academic Conferences
October 14 to 16, 2015 (Paris)
FOOD HERITAGE AND CULINARY PRACTICES
The French National Museum of Natural History
October 17 to 18, 2015 (Guelph, Ontario)
ARTIFACTS IN AGRARIA
The University of Guelph hosts a conference dedicated to the exploration of artifacts of the agrarian past, which will be explored as a valid historical source that gathers meaning when understood in the context of surviving written records, family history, fashion trends and international commerce.
October 17 (New York City)
EATING THROUGH TIME FESTIVAL
New York Academy of Medicine Library
October 22 to 24 (Washington, D.C.)
FOOD HISTORY WEEKEND
National Museum of American History
October 23 to 25, 2015 (Boston)
THE FUTURE OF FOOD STUDIES
The first biennial conference of the Graduate Association for Food Studies (GAFS) at Harvard University
October 30 to 31 (London, Ontario)
EAST MEETS WEST: FOOD AND CULTURAL EXCHANGE IN THE MIDDLE AGES
Mens et Mensa: Society for the Study of Food in the Middle Ages conference at Brescia University College. Featured speaker: Mark Essig, author of Lesser Beasts: A Snout-to-Tail History of the Humble Pig, speaking on "Clean and Unclean: Jews, Christians, and Pigs from the Near East to Northern Europe".
November 6 to 8, 2015 (Mumford, New York)
DOMESTIC SKILLS SYMPOSIUM
Genesee Country Village and Museum presents its second annual exploration of traditional cooking, sewing and other home craft techniques. Presentations include a historic pastry workshop by Toronto culinary historians Mya Sangster, Rosemary Kovac, Amy Scott, and Kathryn Tanaka.
November 18 to 22 (Denver)
CONTEMPORARY CHEFS & CULINARY TRANSFORMATIONS
Panel discussion at the American Anthropological Association 2015 Annual Meeting
January 15 & 16, 2016 (Amsterdam, Netherlands)
FIRE, KNIVES AND FRIDGES
Special Collections of the University of Amsterdam hosts the third Amsterdam Symposium on the History of Food
February 19 to 20, 2016 (Vancouver)
CANADIAN CULINARY IMAGINATIONS: A SYMPOSIUM OF LITERARY AND VISUAL FARE
Deadline for proposals: November 12, 2015
Interdisciplinary examinations of the ways in which Canadian writers and visual artists use food to articulate larger historical and cultural contexts, as well as personal sensibilities, coinciding with the launch of the public art exhibition Artful Fare: Conversations about Food, featuring the collaborative art projects of KPU Fine Arts and English students as they engage in creative-critical dialogues about food in Canadian poetry at Kwantlen Polytechnic University’s Richmond campus. Full submission guidelines are posted online.
May 31 to June 1, 2016 (Dublin)
FOOD AND REVOLUTION
Deadline for proposals: January 15, 2016
The biennial Dublin Gastronomy Symposium. To suggest a paper, send a 250-word proposal to Mairtin MacConiomaire (mairtin.macconiomaire@dit.ie). An authors' style sheet is available online.
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Food for Thought
  
Pastrami on Rye: An Overstuffed History of the Jewish Deli
by Ted Merwin (NYU Press, (October 2015)
For much of the 20th century, the New York Jewish deli was an iconic institution in both Jewish and American life. As a social space it rivaled—and in some ways surpassed—the synagogue as the primary gathering place for the Jewish community. In popular culture it has been the setting for classics like When Harry Met Sally. And today, after a long period languishing in the trenches of the hopelessly old-fashioned, it is experiencing a nostalgic resurgence.
Pastrami on Rye is the first full-length history of the New York Jewish deli, which, argues Merwin, reached its full flowering not in the immigrant period, but in the interwar era, when the children of Jewish immigrants celebrated the first flush of their success in America by downing sandwiches and cheesecake in theater district delis. Now contemporary Jews are returning the deli to cult status as they seek to reclaim their cultural identities.
Interpreting Food at Museums and Historic Sites
by Michelle Moon (Rowman & Littlefield Publishers, November 2015)
Food is such a friendly topic that it’s often thought of as a “hook” for engaging visitors—a familiar way into other topics, or a sensory element to round out a living history interpretation. But it’s more than just a hook—it’s a topic all its own, with its own history and its own uncertain future, deserving of a central place in historic interpretation.
With audiences more interested in food than ever before, and new research in food studies bringing interdisciplinary approaches to this complicated but compelling subject, museums and historic sites have an opportunity to draw new audiences and infuse new meaning into their food presentations.
Interpreting Food History offers a framework for understanding the big ideas in food history, suggesting best practices for linking objects, exhibits and demonstrations with the larger story of change in food production and consumption over the past two centuries.
Sir John's Table: The culinary life & times of Canada's first Prime Minister
by Lindy Mechefske (Goose Lane Editions, September 2015)
Commemorating the two-hundredth anniversary of Sir John A. Macdonald's birth, Sir John's Table is a refreshing look at Canada's first prime minister that traverses the colourful life of Macdonald from his passage as a young Scottish boy in the steerage compartment aboard the Earl of Buckinghamshire to his new home in Kingston, Upper Canada.
It traces his boyhood years of stealing fish and scarfing down fairy cakes into his adult life as a lawyer, husband, father, and eventual leader of the newly founded Dominion of Canada. It was a journey that began with hardtack and suspicious-looking, watered-down stew amidst appallingly unsanitary conditions and culminated in grand dinners held in Macdonald's honour.
In a breezy and engaging style, Mechefske traces Macdonald's life through some of the common foods of the day, from mutton, quince, and gooseberries to hare, cow heel, and ox cheek. Along the way, she reveals how to concoct the fried oysters served at the Charlottetown Conference and how a roast duck dinner saved the Dominion.
(Descriptions based on information provided by the publishers)
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Across the far-flung regions of Canada, a lot is happening in the fields of food and history. This monthly digest is a forum for Canadian culinary historians and enthusiasts to tell each other about their many activities. This is a place for networking and conversation about Canadian culinary history happenings. Each month, Digestible Bits and Bites is shared with members of the Culinary Historians of Canada and other interested persons who request to be on the distribution list. Everyone is welcome to submit items for publication, as long as the information arrives in the editor’s inbox at cadmus@interlog.com by the 25th of the previous month.
The Culinary Historians of Canada would like to share this digest with a wide audience. You are encouraged to post or forward this information.
Administrivia
- To receive their free monthly edition of Digestible Bits and Bites, interested readers need only send a request with their email address to the editor.
- Submissions to Digestible Bits and Bites are welcome at cadmus@interlog.com, although inclusion is at the editor’s discretion. Links to relevant websites are appreciated but not essential.
- Past issues of Digestible Bits and Bites are posted onthe Culinary Historians of Canada website.
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