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Digestible Bits and Bites #31 - November 2015


Digestible Bits and Bites

The monthly newsletter of the
Culinary Historians of Canada
Number 31, November 2015
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It's almost time for mincemeat and puddings! Stir-Up Sunday at Montgomery's Inn comes up on November 22 (see event listings). Photo by Sarah Hood

CHC News and Upcoming Events


Call for Submissions: 2016-2107 CHC Programming
We have exciting news! CHC is launching an open call for historical book launches, historical food demos, food history exhibitions and community projects. The theme is Telling Toronto's, Ontario's and Canada's Food History Stories, which explores the idea of meeting places, where two or more ideas, cultures or sites converge into new layers of food history. Please submit ideas to shirley@culinaryhistorians.ca with the subject line "CHC Prog Ideas 2016/17" by November 15, 2015.

CHC Events Calendar

Wednesday, 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. 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). Twenty-minute 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

Cooking from Rare Books

A memorable and intimate evening to kick off the holiday season from 6 to 8 p.m., with a curated tour and a talk by Elizabeth Ridolfo, Rare Book Librarian at the Thomas Fisher Library (120 St George Street in Toronto), highlighting their historical cookbook collection. Surprise treats recreated by CHC volunteers from historical recipes will be served. Admission: $15 (CHC members). $25 (non-members). $10 (students with ID). The event is currently sold out; contact Shirley Lum at shirley@culinaryhistorians.ca to ask about a waiting list. 

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 at Fort York Frost Fair: A Vintage Christmas Market. Join us at Historic Fort York; 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.
 
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)
Download a membership form here or contact membership@culinaryhistorians.ca to find out more.

News and Opportunities


     
The modern façade of London's historic Borough Market. Photo by Sarah Hood.

Two New Food Museums!
Museums dedicated to food have opened in both London and New York. On October 23, the British Museum of Food opened its doors at 1 Cathedral Street in London's oldest outdoor food market, the sensational Borough Market (pictured above). It will seek a permanent location for the future, but in the meantime, it's presenting the following exhibits:
  • Be the Bolus: the Peristalsis Experience: A cinematic journey through the entire human digestive system
  • Choco-Phonica: A room full of chocolate set to specially composed soundtracks
  • The Butterfly Effect: All about pollinators and their role in growing food
  • Atelier of Flavour: Beautiful and intriguing artwork that represents unusual views of food and drink
  • The British Menu Archive
Just a few days later, on October 28, the Museum of Food and Drink (MOFAD) launched at 62 Bayard Street in Brooklyn. Billed as New York City's first food museum with exhibits you can eat, its first exhibition is “Flavor: Making It and Faking It", which runs through February 28.

Speakers Wanted in Brampton
Brampton Historical Society is booking speakers for their 2016 program. Meetings are held on the third Thursday of every month at 7 p.m. at a local church in Brampton. Speakers receive a fee. If you would like to discuss the possibility of offering a presentation relating to Canada's and Ontario's culinary heritage, contact Monica Polley at monica.polley@rogers.com.

Call for Award Nominations
The Agricultural History Society seeks nominations for its publication awards:
  • Theodore Saloutos Memorial Award: Best 2015 book on agricultural history
  • Henry A. Wallace Award: Best 2015 book on any aspect of agricultural history outside the U.S.
  • Wayne D. Rasmussen Award: Best 2015 article on agricultural history not published in Agricultural History
  • Gilbert C. Fite Dissertation Award: Best dissertation on agricultural history defended in 2015
  • Everett E. Edwards Award: Best article submitted to Agricultural History by a graduate student during 2015.
To nominate a book, send four copies with a brief letter of nomination to James C. Giesen, History Department, PO Box H / Allen 214, Mississippi State, Mississippi, USA 39762. To nominate articles or dissertations, email a PDF copy with a letter of nomination to JGiesen@history.msstate.edu. (If you must send a hard copy, send four copies to the address given above.) All nominations are due by December 31, 2015. Contact Jim Giesen (JGiesen@history.msstate.edu) with any questions.

Step Into History
CHC member Karen Millyard is presenting a quartet of events for history enthusiasts—especially those who aren't afraid to dress the part—in November and December. These are:
  • Regency Games Night at Toronto's First Post Office Museum on Saturday, November 14
  • Toussaint: Traditions of the Dark Months, a night of Breton music and storytelling on Friday, November 20 at Montgomery's Inn
  • Trafalgar Ball (commemorating the famous naval encounter of 1805) on Saturday, November 21 at St. Barnabas Anglican Church Hall on Danforth
  • A Georgian Christmas Supper on Friday, December 18 at Montgomery's Inn.
All four events feature period refreshments appropriate to the occasion. See the events listings below for further details.

Taste of Iceland
Taste of Iceland celebrates its fifth anniversary in Toronto from November 12 to 15. This annual event showcases the best in Icelandic food, music and film; this year, it brings noted chef Ylfa Helgadóttir to Toronto. Owner and chef de cuisine at Kopar, the young chef will present a special menu at Oliver & Bonacini’s Luma from November 12 to 15.

On Sunday, November 15, Luma will host An Evening in Iceland, showcasing the best Icelandic cuisine. Chef Helgadóttir, Oliver & Bonacini’s Anthony Walsh and Michael Wilson will attend a meet-and-greet cocktail reception, followed by a four-course tasting menu. Chefs will walk guests through the menu as they dine at communal tables.
 

Events of Interest


Diners enjoying a festive and historic feast at King's Landing, N.B. (see below).

THIS MONTH (November 2015)
  • Sunday, November 1: Le Chocolat, Toute Une Histoire!, 2 to 4 p.m. (Toronto). Campbell House Museum welcomes La Société d’Histoire de Toronto for a French-language tour by Rolande Smith with a talk about the appreciation of chocolate in New France by Chantal Véchambre, author of French Taste in Atlantic Canada, followed by a tasting. Admission: $25 (general). $20 (SHT members). Pre-register at 416-939-5744 or info@sht.ca.
  • Wednesday, 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.
  • Thursday to Sunday, November 12 to 15: Taste of Iceland (Toronto). See news item above.
  • Saturday, November 14: Regency Games Night, 7.30 to 10 p.m. (Toronto). Danceweavers presents a fireside evening of games, tea and socializing, Jane-Austen style, at Toronto's First Post Office Museum. Historical dress is encouraged but optional. Admission: $20 (general). $15 (students & seniors) includes Georgian refreshments. Pre-register online or at 416-578-1031.
  • 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 15: Seeds of Diversity Annual General Meeting, 1 p.m. to 3 p.m. (Waterloo, Ontario). Seeds of Diversity invites everyone to Waterloo Region Museum to help plan for the future, hear guest speaker Lorraine Johnson and participate in a seed swap and silent auction. Admission: Free (Seeds of Diversity members). $5 (non-members)
  • Sunday, November 15: An Ireland Family Christmas, 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. (Burlington, Ontario). Historic Ireland House & Oakridge Farm present an old-fashioned Christmas with a fire in the historic hearth, heritage Christmas baking demonstrations and sampling (scones with cream and preserves, gingerbread, sweets and chili over an open fire), along with many other seasonal entertainments, including horse and wagon rides. Admission: $6 (adults). $5 (children). Free (children under 3). 905-332-9888
  • Tuesday, November 17: Afternoon Christmas Tea and Talk, 2 to 4 p.m. (Waterloo, Ontario). Waterloo Regional Museum presents afternoon tea with Christmas refreshments along with a presentation comparing Christmas recipes from the 1898 New Galt Cookbook and the 1906 Berlin Cookbook. Admission: $20 (individual) $60 (table of four). Member’s discount applies. Pre-register at 519-748-1914.
  • Friday, November 20: Toussaint: Traditions of the Dark Months, 7 to 10 p.m. (Etobicoke, Ontario). Danceweavers presents a magical evening at Montgomery's Inn featuring storytelling and Celtic music commemorating the Celtic tradition of Breton folklore, where during the “Black Months” of November and December, all gathered by the fire to hear the bleak and eerie tales of northern coastal France. A simple Breton meal served from the hearth will be available for purchase. Hot cider will be served during the break. Admission: $20 (general). $15 (students & seniors). Pre-register at 416-578-1031 or danceweavers@gmail.com.
  • Friday, Saturday & Sunday, November 20, 21 & 22: Christmas Dinner at the King’s Head Inn (Prince William, New Brunswick). King's Landing Historical Settlement presents its beloved annual tradition, when the Inn will be dressed for a 19th-century Christmas to welcome Christmas dinners by candlelight. Guests are met with Christmas music in the pub or by the fireplace in the Simeon Jones room before the call to dine upon roast turkey, goose or beef with Yorkshire pudding and soup, King's Landing bread, vegetables, dessert and postprandial port, walnut toffee and donut men. Admission: $41.99 (adults). $31.99 (children). Reserve at 506-363-4968 or reservations.kl@gnb.ca.
  • Saturday, November 21: Trafalgar Ball (Toronto). Danceweavers presents an evening of "fine naval fervour" at St. Barnabas Anglican Church Hall (361 Danforth Avenue at Chester subway) to celebrate the great British victory at sea in 1805. An afternoon English Country Dance workshop will prepare newcomers to dance; a Regency clothing and hair makeover is available for those without historical garb. The evening features light but elegant historical refreshments, live music, decorations and period table games. Admission (ball only): $25 (general). $20 (students & seniors). Pre-register online or at 416-578-1031.
  • Saturday, November 21: Wassail by Candlelight, 1 to 6 p.m. (Picton) Macaulay House invites visitors to travel back in time to the 1850s holiday season, where the kitchen hearth, aglow in candlelight, will offer an array of heritage foods to sample. Admission: $5 (Free for children under 5) 613-476-2148 ext. 258
  • Saturday & Sunday, November 21 & 22: Wassail (Prince Edward County). Prince Edward County Winegrowers Association pays tribute to the age-old tradition of celebrating the harvest before the arrival of winter, when merrymakers would travel from house to house singing, feasting and quenching their thirst with local grog. This modern version of Wassail is a time to visit wineries, sing a seasonal tune and be treated to free tastes of mulled wine, comfort foods and sweet treats. Bus tours available from Huff Estates.
  • Sunday, November 22: Wassail by Candlelight at Macaulay House (Picton) See November 21.
  • Sunday, November 22: Gingerbread Cooking Program, 1:30 to 3:30 p.m. (Burlington, Ontario). Ireland House Museum presents a workshop on gingerbread past and present. Using the historic hearth, participants will bake and taste gingerbread cookies and cake. Includes a guided tour of Ireland House, all decorated for a Victorian Christmas. Admission: $30 (adult) $50 (adult with child). 905-332-9888
  • 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: Cooking from Rare Books (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.
  • Friday, Saturday & Sunday, November 27, 28 & 29: Christmas Dinner at the King’s Head Inn (Prince William, New Brunswick). See November 20 to 22.
  • Saturday, November 28: Wassail by Candlelight at Macaulay House (Picton) See November 21.
  • Saturday, November 28: The Best of Devour! Festival 2015, 2 and 7:30 p.m. (Picton) Slow Food The County welcomes Devour! of Wolfville, Nova Scotia, the world’s largest food and food-related film festival. The Regent Theatre will be the first venue outside Wolfville to show the 2015 winners. Admission: $15 (one film) $25 (both films). 613-476-8416 ext. 28 or 1-877-411-4761
  • Saturday & Sunday, November 28 & 29: Wassail (Prince Edward County) See November 21 & 22.
LOOKING AHEAD (December 2015)

 
Christmas by Lamplight at Black Creek Pioneer Village (see below).
  • Saturday, December 5: Wassail by Candlelight (Picton) Macaulay House invites visitors to travel back in time to the 1850s holiday season, where the kitchen hearth, aglow in candlelight, will offer an array of heritage foods to sample. Admission: $5 (Free for children under 5) 613-476-2148 ext. 258
  • Saturday & Sunday, December 5 & 6: Victorian Christmas Open House and Carriage House Gift Sale & Mossie’s Tea Room (Brampton). Historic Bovaird House welcomes visitors. Admission: Free. Tea or cider and goodies: $8. 905-874-2804
  • Saturday & Sunday, December 5 & 6: Wassail (Prince Edward County). Prince Edward County Winegrowers Association pays tribute to the age-old tradition of celebrating the harvest before the arrival of winter, when merrymakers would travel from house to house singing, feasting and quenching their thirst with local grog. This modern version of Wassail is a time to visit wineries, sing a seasonal tune and be treated to free tastes of mulled wine, comfort foods and sweet treats. Bus tours available from Huff Estates.
  • December 1 to 23: Christmas Dinner at the King’s Head Inn, 6:30 every evening plus noon on December 5, 6, 13 & 20 (Prince William, New Brunswick). King's Landing Historical Settlement presents its beloved annual tradition, when the Inn will be dressed for a 19th-century Christmas to welcome Christmas dinners by candlelight. Guests are met with Christmas music in the pub or by the fireplace in the Simeon Jones room before the call to dine upon roast turkey, goose or beef with Yorkshire pudding and soup, King's Landing bread, vegetables, dessert and postprandial port, walnut toffee and donut men. Admission: $41.99 (adults). $31.99 (children). Reserve at 506-363-4968 or reservations.kl@gnb.ca.
  • Saturday & Sunday, December 5 & 6: Stirring Up the Christmas Joy!, 10 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. (Pickering, Ontario). Pickering Museum Village invites visitors to make and take away a traditional plum pudding and cedar swag and enjoy lunch in the 1850s inn, a talk with the PMV Costumer and a behind-the-scenes tour and costume fitting. They can return the next day to wear a costume, share in the pre-event bustle, pose for a photograph, for Christmas in the Village, Winter in the Woods. Space is limited. Admission: $175 per person; purchase tickets online.
  • Friday, December 4: A Taste of Christmas Past, 6 to 9 p.m. (Burlington, Ontario) Ireland House Museum presents traditional Christmas food and beverage tastings from classic recipes: delicious sweets, savoury treats and festive beverages such as mulled wine and holiday punch in the beautifully decorated historic house, along with other entertainments, illuminated by candlelight and a roaring hearth fire. Admission: $25. Not recommended for children under the age of 16. 905-332-9888 or 1-800-374-2099 
  • Saturday, December 5: Christmas by Lamplight, 6 to 9:30 p.m. with optional dinner seatings at 5:30 & 8:30 p.m. (Toronto). Black Creek Pioneer Village invites visitors to visit the homes and workshops decorated to celebrate the season while enjoying traditional folk music, Christmas carolling and choirs, craft workshops and food samples to the magical glow of lamps and lanterns, flickering candles and cozy fireplaces. An optional dinner is served in the Historic Brewery Restaurant's Canada West Room. Admission. $26.95 to $34.95 (adults). $22.45 to $29.95 (children under 12). Program with full dinner: $68.35 to $80.95 (adults). $45.23 to $55.25 (children under 12). 416-667-6295
  • Saturday & Sunday, December 5 & 6: Fort York Frost Fair (Toronto). See news item above for details.
  • Sunday, December 6: Christmas in the Village, Winter in the Woods, noon to 3:30 p.m. (Pickering). Pickering Museum Village presents holiday customs of the pioneer village like Scottish Hogmanay, Welsh traditions, Victorian English Christmas celebrations and Squire Jonathan's Christmas Ball. Admission: Free with entrance to the museum
  • Sunday, December 6: Christmas Dinner at Black Creek Pioneer Village, seatings at 1 and 4 p.m. (Toronto). Tour the Village and enjoy Butternut Squash Soup or Arugula Salad, Roasted Turkey or Stuffed Acorn Squash and Warm Apple Blossom or Pumpkin Pie at the Brewery Restaurant. Admission: $54 (adults). $27 (children). 416-667-6295
  • Sunday, December 6: Yuletide Pudding 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 art of pudding making including a traditional Scottish Clootie dumpling. Bring your own brown bag lunch, as the hearth will be busy boiling your pudding creations! Admission: $65, including a pudding to take home. Limit: 6 participants. Pre-register at 613-476-2148 ext. 258.
  • Saturday, December 12: Desserts by Lamplight, 6:30 to 9 p.m. (Scarborough, Ontario). Scarborough Museum presents a magical evening of lamp-lit rooms, decadent desserts and carolers. Admission: $25. Pre-register at 416-338-8807
  • Saturday, December 12: Christmas by Lamplight at Black Creek Pioneer Village (Toronto). See December 5.
  • Sunday, December 13: Christmas Dinner at Black Creek Pioneer Village, seatings at 1 and 4 p.m. (Toronto). See December 6.
  • Wednesday, December 16: Holiday Farmers' Market & Gift Sale, 2 to 7 p.m. (Etobicoke, Ontario). Montgomery's Inn presents a special extended holiday edition of their regular Market Days with fresh bread from the bake oven, preserves, local fresh and prepared foods, plus the famous festive fundraising fruitcakes ($10 each). Admission: Free
  • Friday, December 18: Georgian Christmas Supper, 7 to 10 p.m. (Etobicoke, Ontario). York Regency Society presents your chance for an actual taste of Jane Austen’s world at Montgomery's Inn. Enjoy the pleasures of the Georgian table during the festive season, supping by candlelight and the comfort of an open fire. Sit at an elegant table and eat the foods Austen and her contemporaries knew. A blend of the familiar and the intriguingly different, these utterly delectable dishes show us a lesser-known aspect of her time. Historical clothing is optional, but encouraged. Admission: $45. Tickets must be purchased by Friday, December 11 by phone at 416-578-1031.
  • Saturday, December 19: Christmas by Lamplight at Black Creek Pioneer Village (Toronto). See December 5.
  • Sunday, December 20: Christmas Dinner at Black Creek Pioneer Village, seatings at 1 and 4 p.m. (Toronto). See December 6.
CONTINUING


Image from Food Will Win the War at the Canada Agriculture and Food Museum (see below). Library and Archives Canada The Montreal Gazette. PA-108300
  • 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.
  • November 21 to December 23: Christmas at Black Creek (Toronto). Black Creek Pioneer Village presents special Christmas programs on weekends, including explorations and tastings of traditional foods like Christmas puddings, mincemeat tarts and apple cider.
  • 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.
  • To Fall 2016: Food Will Win the War (Ottawa). The Canada Agriculture and Food Museum presents an exhibition on the story of food on the Canadian home front during the Second World War. Focusing on shopping, eating, conserving, and volunteering, it shows how Canadians fought a “war for food” to support Canada’s overseas war efforts. Admission: Free with entrance to the museum. 613-991-3044 or 1-866-442-4416

Academic Conferences

 
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. The symposium features a full luncheon composed entirely of 18th- and 19th-century period receipts. Presentations include a historic pastry workshop by Toronto culinary historians Mya Sangster, Rosemary Kovac, Amy Scott, and Kathryn Tanaka, as well as sessions by Lynne Belluscio, Rabbit Goody, Jonathan Townsend and Patricia Tice.

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.

Food for Thought


      

Food and Femininity by Kate Cairns & Josée Johnston (Contemporary Food Studies: Economy, Culture and Politics, Bloomsbury Academic, September 2015)
Over the space of a few generations, women's relationships with food have changed dramatically. Yet—despite significant advances in gender equality—food and femininity remain closely connected in the public imagination as well as the emotional lives of women. While women encounter food-related pressures and pleasures as individuals, the social challenge to perform food femininities remains: as the nurturing mother, the talented home cook, the conscientious consumer, the svelte and health-savvy eater.

In Food and Femininity, Cairns and Johnston explore these complex and often emotionally-charged tensions to demonstrate that food is essential to the understanding of femininity today. Drawing on extensive qualitative research in Toronto, they present the voices of over 100 food-oriented men and women from a range of race and class backgrounds. Their research reveals gendered expectations to purchase, prepare and enjoy food within the context of time crunches, budget restrictions, political commitments and the pressure to manage health and body weight.

The book analyses how women navigate multiple aspects of foodwork for themselves and others, from planning meals, grocery shopping and feeding children to navigating conflicting preferences, nutritional and ethical advice, and the often-inequitable division of household labour. What emerges is a world in which women's choices continue to be closely scrutinized—a world where "failing" at food is still perceived as a failure of femininity.

The Johnson Family Treasury: A collection of family recipes and remedies, 1741-1858, edited by Nathalie Cooke, preface by Lynette Hunter (Rock Mills Press, 2015)
CHC congratulates member Nathalie Cooke on her latest food history book! Today's readers can see the original pages and the very beautiful handwriting in this facsimile edition of a handwritten manuscript, a fascinating glimpse into household technology, domestic medicine and new foods available to the middle classes in an age of expanding colonialism.

This treasury represents the collected knowledge of a coterie of women descended from the Johnson family. In the days before women’s magazines became a popular source of information, the span of knowledge here is impressive: recipes include everything from pea soup to more fanciful “floating islands”, as well as wines made from sage, damsons, cowslip, ginger, orange, cherries, currants, lemons and raisins (plus several cures for hangovers). Equally fascinating are the remedies covering a wide range of health problems, from “wind in the stomach” to worms, scurvy, and cancer.

The Carrot Purple and Other Curious Stories of the Food We Eat by Joel Denker (Rowman & Littlefield, October 2015)
How many otherwise well-educated readers know that the familiar orange carrot was once a novelty? It is a little more than 400 years old. Domesticated in Afghanistan in 900 AD, the purple carrot, in fact, was the dominant variety until Dutch gardeners bred the young upstart in the 17th century. After surveying paintings from this era in the Louvre and other museums, Dutch agronomist Otto Banga discovered this stunning transformation. 

The story of the carrot is just one of the hidden tales this book recounts. Through portraits of a wide range of foods we eat and love, from artichokes to strawberries, The Carrot Purple traces the path of foods from obscurity to familiarity. Joel Denker explores how these edible plants were, in diverse settings, invested with new meaning. They acquired not only culinary significance but also ceremonial, medicinal, and economic importance. Foods were variously savoured, revered, and reviled.

Inventing the Pizzeria: A History of Pizza Making in Naples by Antonio Mattozzi, translated by Zachary Nowak (Bloomsbury Academic, 2015)
Pizza is one of the best-known and widely exported Italian foods, and yet relatively little is known about its origins in the late 18th and early 19th centuries. Myths such as the naming of pizza margherita after the Italian queen abound, but little serious scholarly attention has been devoted to the topic. Eschewing exaggerated fables, this book draws a detailed portrait of the difficulties experienced by the then marginalized class of pizza makers, rather than the ultimate success of their descendants. It provides a unique exploration of the history of pizza making in Naples, offering an archival-based history of the early story of pizza and the establishment of the pizzeria. 

Touching upon issues of politics, economics and sociology, Inventing the Pizzeria contributes not only to the commercial, social and food history of Italy, but also provides an urban history of a major European city, told through one of its most famous edible exports. Originally published in Italian in 2009, this English edition is updated with a revised introduction and conclusion, a new preface and additional images and sources.

(Descriptions based on information provided by the publishers)
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. 


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