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Digestible Bits and Bites
The monthly newsletter of the
Culinary Historians of Canada
Number 22, February 2015
It's marmalade season!
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CHC News and Upcoming Events
Saturday, February 21, 2015, 10 a.m. to 4:30 p.m
Mad for Marmalade, Crazy for Citrus!
The CHC is excited to partner with Fort York National Historic Site for our eighth annual celebration of marmalade and all things citrus. This year's event will have an Italian flavour. Enjoy marmalade- and citrus-themed presentations and workshops, lunch, tastings and a marketplace, and be sure to enter the competition! Your ticket includes a tour of Fort York and a take-home goody bag. Admission $45+HST until February 8. $50+HST afterwards. Lunch only: $15+HST. Preregistration required. 416-392-7455, ext. 0.
Speakers and presentations:
  
- A talk by award-winning author Fina Scroppo (The Healthy Italian)
- A reading by Loretta Gatto-White, co-editor of the anthology Italian Canadians at Table, a Narrative Feast in Five Courses on the origins of citrus gelato, cafes and dining al fresco in Toronto.
- A lunchtime demonstration on making limoncello by Executive Chef Gino Marchetti of Ristorante Boccaccio
Workshops:
- Organic Citrus Pollo Al Mattone with Joanne Girimonte of Meaty Meats
- Panpepato (an Italian fruitcake) with Elizabeth Baird—full
- Crostata di Marmellata with Emily Richards
- Orange Cheesecakes with Mya Sangster
- Italian Marmalades with Giovanni of Vesuvio Ristorante, Brampton
- Italian Ice Cream with Lemon and Orange with Chef Paganelli
- Citrus Biscotti with Teresa Gorys of Sweet Obsessions
Marmalade Competition: Enter up to two categories (Pure Seville Orange Marmalade, Citrus Marmalade, Citrus Preserves or Baking with Marmalade) for a fee of $2 per entry. Prizes include ribbons, cash, cookbooks and surprises from Bernardin and other supporters. Judges: Award-winning jam and pickle-maker Tom Boyd, Charmian Christie (The Messy Baker); pastrychef Kyla Eaglesham (Madeleines, Cherry Pie and Ice Cream); Christine Manning (Manning Canning); food trends expert Dana McCauley; chef Joanna Sable; author and preserving champion Yvonne Tremblay, and an eighth to be confirmed. Full rules and entry forms are posted online; for further details, contact Sarah Hood (416-531-5670 or cadmus@interlog.com).
Volunteering: We are still looking for CHC members to volunteer for set-up and take-down on the day of the event itself, as well as from 1 to 4 p.m. on the Friday before, when we’ll be preparing the workshop areas and setting tables in the Blue Barracks and preparing gift packages for 100 people. All volunteers will receive free admission to the events, but will be asked to pay for their lunch ($15). If you are interested in helping out, please contact Michael Elliott (michael@culinaryhistorians.ca).
New CHC Board Members
At our Annual General Meeting in late November we filled some key vacancies. Anya Craig took over the Secretary's position from Sylvia Lovegren-Petras, and Sylvia moved over to the role of Treasurer, formerly held by Ted Turvey. Shirley Lum volunteered to succeed Angel Cummins as Membership Chair, and Marzena Gersho is our new Publications Chair.
Fiona Lucas continues as President, with Betsy Aziz as Vice President; Michael Elliott continues as Chair of Electronic Reources. Gayle Comeau is now our book reviews editor, a non-board position. Sarah Hood continue as editor of this newsletter.
Grateful thanks to all who stepped up to new duties, as well as to those who continue to serve, or who have given us their time in the past.
A New Look for CHC
We are working on updating the CHC website. First up is the launch of our handsome new bilingual logo; visit the homepage to see it!
40th Celebration at Montgomery's Inn
On March 1, 1975, the historic property of Montgomery's Inn (4709 Dundas Street West, Etobicoke 416-394-8113) opened as a museum; the opening event was attended by then Lt-Gov. Pauline McGibbon and some 1,000 guests. Food historian Dorothy Duncan, who was a museums advisor for the province at the time, led a group of volunteers who had restored artifacts for the museum and who were to become the nucleus of the site's current volunteer group. She will attend the 40th anniversary celebration on Sunday, March 1 from 10:30 a.m. to 1 p.m. to share stories about her work with the Inn. Pinwheel sandwiches made by the Inn's current volunteers will be served, along with a special anniversary cake, and of course tea, coffee and mulled cider. Tours of the museum will be available after 1 p.m.
Are You an Author?
Please let us know when you have a book coming out, so we can cover it in this newsletter. Send publishing announcements to newsletter editor Sarah Hood (cadmus@interlog.com).
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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 the 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
Culinary Query
Dear Culinary Historians of Canada,
My friend and I are both librarians and enthusiastic eaters, and we are embarking on a project where we make food from our favorite books that we've always wanted to try. Our blog 36 Eggs is named in honor of the dish we want to make most: Miss Sarah Pringle's pound cake from L.M. Montgomery's Anne of Windy Poplars, but we can't seem to find a recipe anywhere! What we know about this pound cake:
- It is described as being extraordinarily good
- It is an "old English family recipe"
- It contains 36(!) eggs
- It is "sweated," which is described as being wrapped in several thicknesses of brown paper and several more towels and left for three days.
We thought that if anyone could help us find an authentic recipe for this cake, it would be the Culinary Historians of Canada. Can you help us?
Thank you,
Miko Osada & Jenne Bergstrom
Librarians & Die-Hard LMM Fans
Noshwalks
Noshwalks is a unique New York City walking tour company that offers excursions to Brooklyn's Chinatown and Little Mexico and to Queens' Little Guyana, among many ethnic neighborhoods (not unlike our own CHC member Shirley Lum's A Taste of the World here in Toronto). Food writer Joel Denker writes about Noshwalks and its revelations of the city's changing food and folkways in the latest posting on his site Food Passages.
Heritage Breeds Podcasts
Did you know that 21% of the world’s 8,000 livestock breeds are in danger of extinction? The U.S.-based Livestock Conservancy has created a series of podcasts showcasing historic animals, their breeders, and people working to save them from extinction. They cover topics like heritage breeds of poultry, rare hares and humane butchering. The entire series is available free on iTunes.
Food Cults: Call for Chapter Proposals
The upcoming book Food Cults, to be published in the Rowman & Littlefield Food & Gastronomy Series, will explore questions of domestic and international, contemporary and historic food communities characterized by extreme nutritional beliefs, often viewed as "fringe" movements by mainstream culture. Editor Kima Cargill, University of Washington, suggests the term ‘cult’ as a dynamic one, and not necessarily a derogatory one, and invites contributors to define culthood for themselves.
Pending submissions, the volume will likely be organized into two sections: I: Theories and History of Food Cults and II: Historic and Contemporary Food Cults. The first section will comprise an overview, while the second will focus on such specific topics as raw food diets, culturally inappropriate food practices, poisonous or toxic food ingestion, muscle building/masculinity and asceticism.
Complete chapter manuscripts must be 4,000 to 5,000 words, including references. Submissions should include a chapter proposal and a CV of no more than three pages, sent to to Kima Cargill (kcargill@uw.edu) as an MS Word attachment. Deadline: March 1. Notification of acceptance will be given by April 1; complete chapters are due October 1. View the complete details here.
W-E Digest: Call for Submissions
A new quarterly online magazine from World-Eats.org will be launch in June to cover topics from food policy and advocacy to food art, to living "la vida local". Each issue of W-E Digest will focus on a single theme using a variety of media (long-form writing, images, media and fine art). To find out how you (or your students) can participate, contact submissions@world-eats.org. Deadline for pitches: February 15.
Food & Design: Call for Articles and Illustrations
The new International Journal of Food Design (IJFD) is the first academic journal entirely dedicated to Food Design research and practice. It welcomes articles relating to more than one area of knowledge, articles that create bridges between disciplines, and articles that result from research teams made of scientists with unique expertise all contributing to the same research endeavour. Submissions could be research articles of 6,000 to 8,000 words, including references, case studies of 3,000 to 4,000 words or literature review articles. Full submission details are available online,
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Events of Interest
FEBRUARY 2015
- Tuesday to Thursday, February 3 to 5: Georgian Dinner, 6 to 10 p.m. (Toronto). Campbell House presents a Winterlicious event. $100 (includes shrub, wine, taxes and gratuity). 416 597-0227, ext. 2
- Sunday, February 8: Hearts and Kisses Baking Workshop, 10 a.m. to noon (Etobicoke, Ontario). Montgomery's Inn invites visitors to prepare their own 1840s treats (Heart Cakes, Meringue Kisses and Chocolate Puffs) and a Victorian box in which to present them for Valentine's Day. $25 + HST, pre-registration required.
- Friday, February 13: Time Traveller P.A. Day Camp, 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. (Toronto). Colborne Lodge whisks children (7 to 10) back in time to explore life almost 200 years ago, including 19th-century cooking techniques. Pre-registration required. 416-392-6916
- Saturday, February 14: Sweetheart Tea, two seatings: noon & 2:30 p.m. (Toronto). Gibson House presents a Victorian-inspired tea with finger sandwiches and sweets in Mrs. Gibson's parlour. Costumed interpreters host an afternoon tea in the setting of a mid-19th century home. $20 + HST per person; pre-registration and pre-payment required. 416-395-7432
- Saturday, February 14: Valentine’s Fireside at the Inn, two seatings: 7 to 8 p.m. & 8:30 to 9:30 p.m. (Etobicoke, Ontario). Montgomery's Inn welcomes visitors to spend a cosy Valentine’s Day evening at the Inn near a roaring fire, listening to live music and enjoying a mulled beverage with crepes, cookies and chocolate. $40 + HST per couple includes a plated dessert and a mulled wine beverage each. Pre-registration required.
- Monday, February 16: Family Day at Fort York, 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. (Toronto). Fort York invites visitors to visit the historic kitchen and sample baking from the hearth. Free with regular admission.
- Monday, February 16: Family Day at Montgomery’s Inn, 1 to 5 p.m. (Etobicoke, Ontario). An Irish ceilidh at Montgomery's Inn. Maureen O’Leary of Maureen’s Reel Irish Dancing teaches a dance workshop and then hosts a ceilidh from 2 to 3:30 p.m. The cooks prepare tasty treats over the fire in the historic kitchen, and resident storyteller Nan Brien shares fireside stories at 1:30 and 3:30 p.m. Free with regular admission
- Monday, February 16: Family Day on the Farm, 9:30 a.m. to 4 p.m. (Ottawa). Canada Agriculture and Food Museum welcomes guests to explore the sights and sounds of farm life including "garbage" soup making, butter making and tasting and afternoon milking in the Dairy Barn. Free with regular admission.
- Tuesday, February 17: Heritage Month Open House, 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. (Burlington, Ontario): Historic Ireland House offers baking demonstrations, historical interpreters, and traditional crafts. Featured exhibition: "You Go Girl! The Dutiful Housewife 1840-1960," which highlights a woman's role in society as dictated by literature, advertisements and contemporaries. Free admission. 905-332-9888
- Saturday, February 21: Mad for Marmalade, Crazy for Citrus!, See listing above.
- Saturday, February 21: Midwinter Masquerade Ball (Toronto). Jane Austen Dancing and the York Regency Society present an evening of Regency-era refreshments, historical table games and door prizes. Fancy-dress encouraged.
- Thursday, February 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 specialty 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
- Sunday, March 1: 40th Anniversary Celebration with Dorothy Duncan, 10:30 a.m. to 1 p.m. (Etobicoke, Ontario) at Montgomery's Inn. See listing above.
- Friday, March 6: Home School Program: Nature Knowledge, 10:30 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. (Burlington, Ontario). Ireland House shows students how pioneers would have lived off the land, with explorations of the garden and historic potting shed. $4 per student; minimum 10 students.
- Saturday, March 14: Haggis Making Workshop, 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. (Toronto) Mackenzie House presents this unique opportunity to make a rustic Scottish meal including the infamous haggis. Participants will work in the historic kitchen and explore the lives of 19th-century Scottish settlers with special guest Maggie Newell, historic cook and culinary historian, from Gibson House Museum. $30 + HST. 416-392-6915
- Thursday, March 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 or wine, or a Thomas Montgomery specialty 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 August 2015: Made in Toronto: Food and Drink Manufacturing in Our City: (Toronto). An archival exhibit exploring the story of food and beverage production in Toronto, featuring materials from the Toronto Archives, Weston Corporate Archives and the Toronto Public Library, and artifacts loaned from Toronto Museum Services. City of Toronto Archives, 255 Spadina Road, 416-397-5000
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Academic Conferences
March 6 to 8, 2015 (Little Rock, Arkansas, USA)
CARVING PATHS THROUGH LIVING HISTORY
The conference will examine ways living historians can collaborate with different groups or each other to further the interpretation of history.
March 26 & 27, 2015 (Tours, France)
FIRST INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE ON FOOD HISTORY AND FOOD STUDIES
The European Institute for the History and Cultures of Food (the IEHCA, Institut Européen d’Histoire et des Cultures de l’Alimentation) will hold its first annual conference within the scope of a continuation of the IEHCA’s work over the last twelve years, carried out through its publications like the "Food & History" and “Table des Hommes” collections, its support for research and its facilitation of networking opportunities among food studies researchers.
June 3 to 5, 2015 (Montclair, New Jersey, USA)
9th INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE ON CULINARY ARTS AND SCIENCES (ICCAS)
Montclair State University is the first U.S. institution to host ICCAS. The 2015 theme is Opportunities and Challenges for Food and Eating in Society. In addition to developing the central thrust of the conference, presentations will focus on food heritage; foodservice and hospitality; food systems and politics; food science and safety; food marketing; food habits and consumer behaviour, and nutrition and wellbeing.
June 19 to 23, 2015 (Williamsburg, Virginia, USA)
DOING & TELLING: A LIVING HISTORY TOOLBOX
The 2015 ALHFAM (Association of Living History, Farm and Agricultural Museums) Annual Meeting and Conference will focus on the variety of tools, both physical and interpretive, that they use to create dynamic Living History experiences. Whether they’re providing a hands-on opportunity in a garden, presenting a dramatic scenario, furnishing a period room, or interpreting a decisive battle, living history interpreters must select the best tool for the job, whether that is a long-handled hoe, an exciting script, a period print, an electronic map or a Windsor chair.
June 24 to 28, 2015 (Pittsburgh, USA)
BRIDGING THE PAST, CULTIVATING THE FUTURE: EXPLORING SUSTAINABLE FOODSCAPES
Chatham University is hosting the Joint 2015 Annual Meetings and Conference of the Association for the Study of Food and Society (ASFS) and the Agriculture, Food and Human Values Society (AFHVS). Emphasizing a holistic intellectual and material landscape, this year's theme emphasizes the need to plan forward by looking backwards, by imagining and creating spaces where agricultural and culinary practices mesh with opportunities for environmental, social, cultural, and material sustenance.
July 3 to 5, 2015 (Oxford, UK)
FOOD & COMMUNICATION
The 2015 Oxford Symposium on Food and Cookery explores all aspects of food production, preparation, presentation and consumption from the earliest times to the latest—from painted prey-animals on the walls of the Lascaux caves to the byways of Wikipedia.
July 8 to 10, 2015
FOOD AND DRINK MARKETS: THE PRODUCTION AND CONSUMPTION OF ALTERNATIVE MARKET PRACTICES AND NARRATIVES (Leicester, UK)
The Conference stream of the 9th International Conference in Critical Management Studies will take place at the University of Leicester. Food and drink markets are situated at the intersection of the global and local, the economic and cultural, the political and passionate. Amidst growing concerns about food-related security, safety, environmental degradation and social injustice, we are witness to a proliferation of alternatives. These are rediscovering, inventing, adapting and developing different approaches to the production, distribution and procurement of food and drink. The socio-cultural significance of food for individuals and groups means that the viability of alternative food and drink markets is intertwined with consumers’ desires for goods, services and market relations that offer a sense of authenticity and identity in a global marketplace otherwise crowded with homogeneous, standardized offerings and instrumental modes of exchange.
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.
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Food for Thought
  
Food in the Air and Space: The Surprising History of Food and Drink in the Skies by Richard Foss, Food on the Go Series (Rowman & Littlefield Publishers, December 2014)
In the history of cooking, there has been no more challenging environment than those craft in which humans took to the skies. The tale begins with meals aboard balloons and zeppelins, where cooking was accomplished below explosive bags of hydrogen, ending with space station dinners that were cooked thousands of miles below. This book is the first to chart that history worldwide, exploring the intricacies of inflight dining from 1783 to the present day. It charts the ways in which commercial travelers were lured to try flying with the promise of familiar foods, explains the problems of each aerial environment and how chefs, engineers, and flight crew adapted to them, and tells the stories of pioneers in the field. Hygiene and sanitation were often difficult, and cultural norms and religious practices had to be taken into account. The history is surprising and sometimes humorous—at times some ridiculous ideas were tried, and airlines offered some strange meals to try to attract passengers. It’s an engrossing story with quite a few twists and turns, and this first book on the subject tells it with a light touch.
The Joy of Ballpark Food: From Hot Dogs to Haute Cuisine by Bennett Jacobstein, (Ballpark Food Publications, January 2015)
Baseball is a game that is identified with food; we even sing about it at every ballpark during the seventh inning stretch: "Buy me some peanuts and Cracker Jack..." From the early 20th century until the 1980s, classic baseball fare consisted mostly of hot dogs, ice cream, peanuts and Cracker Jack. Then ballparks slowly began to sell new items. A proliferation of new food offerings during the 1990s was fueled by the opening of 12 new Major League Baseball parks. Now, teams around the country sell a variety of exotic food as well as wide variety of hot dogs. The Joy of Ballpark Food: From Hot Dogs to Haute Cuisine begins with the history of the first hot dog at a ball game and concludes with a culinary tour of all 30 major league ballparks. All royalties from the sales of this book are donated directly to the Second Harvest Food Bank of Santa Clara and San Mateo Counties of California.
Food and the City: Histories of Culture and Cultivation edited by by Dorothée Imbert, Dumbarton Oaks Colloquium on the History of Landscape Architecture series, Book 36, (Harvard University Press, for release April 2015)
Food and the City explores the physical, social, and political relations between the production of food and urban settlements. Its 13 essays discuss the multiple scales and ideologies of productive landscapes—from market gardens in 16th-century Paris to polder planning near mid-20th century Amsterdam to opportunistic agriculture in today’s Global South—and underscore the symbiotic connection between productive landscape and urban form across times and geographies. The physical proximity of fruit and vegetable production to urban consumers in pre-revolutionary Paris, or the distribution of fish in Imperial Edo, was an essential factor in shaping both city and surroundings. Colonial expansion and modernist planning stressed the essential relation between urbanism and food production, at the scales of both the garden and agriculture. This volume offers a variety of perspectives—from landscape and architectural history to geography—to connect the garden, market, city, and beyond through the lenses of modernism, technology, scale, social justice, and fashion. Essays on the Fascist new settlements in Ethiopia, Le Corbusier’s Radiant Farm and views on rural France, the urban farms in Israel, and the desakota landscape of the Pearl River Delta, to name a few, will appeal to those concerned with urban, landscape, and architectural studies.
(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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