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Happy New Year! Digestible Bits and Bites #45, January 2017

Digestible Bits and Bites

The monthly newsletter of the
Culinary Historians of Canada
Number 45, January 2017
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Treats for the participants at our Baking for the Victorian Christmas Table event. Sherry Murphy made the almond-based macaroons (far left), the queen cakes (top) and the soft gingerbread cake (bottom). Sarah Hood made the stamped gingerbread tiles (right). Photo by Sarah Hood

CHC News and Upcoming Events




Mad for Marmalade
Marmalade is always bittersweet, but this year it’s especially so, as we hold the 10th and final edition of Mad for Marmalade, Crazy for Citrus!, the sensationally popular marmalade event we co-host with (and at) Fort York National Historic Site. It will be held on Saturday, February 18 from 8:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m.

We’re planning a full day of interesting speakers, workshops and a citrus-themed lunch. Among our presenters will be Joel MacCharles and Dana Harrison, authors of Batch, and Camilla Wynne, founder of Preservation Society and author of Preservation Society Home Preserves: 100 Modern Recipes.

A sneak peek at some of our workshop leaders: Mary Luz Mejia, Rachel Fox, Elizabeth Baird and Jennifer MacKenzie, among many others. Let’s not forget the marmalade competition, as we want lots of people submitting their favourite recipes to be evaluated by our esteemed panel of judges. The full event details will be finalized in the next few weeks, and early registration will start soon.

Watch this newsletter, Facebook and our website for further details. This is a very special year and we want everyone to join us for this special occasion!
 

CHC Membership Directory for 2016-2017
CHC members will receive a printable, downloadable PDF version of the current membership directory via email at or shortly after 10 a.m. on Sunday, January 1. Since it has been some time since we last issued a directory, there will likely be some corrections to be made.

Please feel free to notify us of changes at members@culinaryhistorians.ca. It will be possible to issue a revised version if needed.
 

Canada 150 Food Blog Challenge 2017
CHC invites food bloggers to participate in our Canada 150 Food Blog Challenge. We’ll be naming a topic for every month and publicizing entries throughout Canada’s sesquicentennial year. At the end of 2017, we’ll choose our favourite participating blogs and sponsor them for entry into Taste Canada’s 2017 blog category.

For January 2017, the topic is fish and seafood. We’re looking for blog posts of any length, in either French or English, that relate to the history of fish and seafood in Canada. The approach could be an experiment with a historic recipe, a contemporary take on a traditional dish, a report on a visit to a historic site relating to fishing, a family story with a recipe that relates to the topic, an essay about a historic technique for catching, preserving or preparing fish or seafood ... or any other similar topic.

Bloggers need not contribute every month to be considered. To enter, simply publish your entry within the month of January 2017 and post it on the CHC Facebook page before midnight on Friday, February 17.
 

Chinese New Year Dim Sum Dumpling Class
It is said that the more dumplings you eat around the time of Chinese New Year, the more money you will make. On Saturday, January 21 from noon to 3 p.m., join chef and instructor Vanessa Yeung of Aphrodite Cooks for a hands-on dim sum cooking class to tie in with Chinese New Year. The event takes place at the Ralph Thornton Centre (765 Queen Street East in Toronto).

Participants will learn some of the traditional recipes that we have come to love and some with modern-day adapted flavours. The menu includes Ginger Chicken Potstickers, Siu Mai (steamed pork and shrimp dumplings), Vegetarian Water Dumplings and Fried Sesame Balls.

Admission is $65 (general public) and $50 (CHC members, students & seniors). Buy tickets online. Please note: Participants must be 13 or older (with adult guardian) or 16 or older (solo) to attend. The event is limited to 20 participants. At the time of publishing, only three tickets were still available.
 


Left to right: Shirley Farrar, Stephanie Thomas and Carolyn Crawford at Frost Fair.

Frost Fair at the Fort
On Saturday, December 3, CHC was part of Frost Fair, the annual traditional winter fair at Fort York National Historic Site. Sherry Murphy provided her gingerbread people and cookies, and Carolyn Crawford baked lemon curd tarts. CHC president Luisa Giacometti, board member Shirley Farrar and members Inese Grava-Gubins, Elka Weinstein and Stephanie Thomas all helped out in selling the sweet treats and cookbooks, so the event was a profitable as well as an enjoyable one.
 


Participants at Baking for the Victorian Christmas Table. Photo by Sarah Hood

Baking for the Victorian Christmas Table
On Sunday, December 11, a full house of 20 enthusiastic would-be Victorian bakers packed the historic kitchen at Montgomery’s Inn in Etobicoke for a workshop on early Victorian baking for Christmas.

CHC board members Sherry Murphy and Sarah Hood, with the able assistance of CHC member and experienced historic cook Sharon Majik, presented recipes from two cookbooks that were current during the early Victorian period. These were The Cook Not Mad; Or, Rational Cookery (1831), the first cookbook published in Canada, and William Kitchiner’s The Cook’s Oracle, containing receipts for plain cookery on the most economical plan for private families. First published in 1817, the latter became widely used in England and the US, and was reprinted in numerous later editions.

The recipes included Mincemeat with Meat, Short Crust and Puff Pastry from the 1836 edition of The Cook’s Oracle, Gingerbread Nuts from the 1843 edition and Soft Gingerbread from The Cook Not Mad. Part‬icipants enjoyed using 19th-century technology, such as measuring with a balance scale, peeling apples and grinding meat with antique cast-iron appliances, and relying on the fire for heat and candles for light.

We took a moment to honour the memory of former CHC member Michelle Gatien Thomas, who was to have led the workshop, but who died unexpectedly last November.

CHC is very grateful to Montgomery’s Inn curator Alexandra Kim, staffers Sue Pye and Jill Lefaive, and volunteers Marda Robinson (who offered a guided tour in costume) and Seven Ritz (who heroically ferried ingredients and equipment up and down stairs all afternoon), as well as Tom Travaglini, who took care of all the onerous tidying up. In addition, the inn generously provided almost all the baking ingredients.

We plan to repeat the event next year.
 

Upcoming CHC Events
  • Date TBA: Canada 150 Dinner.
  • All year: Canada 150 Food Blog Challenge—An online event that invites people to post about Canada 150 food themes.
  • Saturday, January 21: Chinese New Year Dim Sum Dumpling Class, noon to 3 p.m., Ralph Thornton Centre, Toronto—Chef and instructor Vanessa Yeung of Aphrodite Cooks will offer a hands-on cooking class to tie in with Lunar New Year. (See details, above.)
  • Saturday, February 18: The 10th annual Mad for Marmalade, Crazy for Citrus! (See details, above.)
  • Saturday, March 11: Presentation by historian Catharine Wilson, University of Guelph (exact location TBA)—Catharine Wilson will speak about meals provided by host families at barn raisings, threshing days and quilting bees in 19th- and 20th-century Ontario. Dr. Wilson is the Redelmeier Professor of Rural History at the University of Guelph and the founder and director of the Rural Diary Archive. As she explains, “Farm diaries help us to understand the role of harvest meals in rural hospitality—and the importance of meeting, but not exceeding, community standards.”
  • Friday to Tuesday, April 7 to 11: Vimy Ridge 100, Arras (France)—The CHC will animate a presentation with demonstrations about food on the Canadian home front during WWI and WWII as part of the 100th anniversary of Vimy Ridge.
  • Friday, May 26: The Why of Butter Chicken Pizza: Change as a constant in Canadian cuisine, Toronto—A talk about the search for a true Canadian cuisine by Lenore Newman, author of the soon-to-be-released book Speaking in Cod Tongues: A Canadian Culinary Journey.
  • Saturday, June 3: Catharine Parr Traill Book Launch, Thomas Fisher Rare Book Library, Toronto—CHC member Nathalie M. Cooke of McGill University (founding editor of CuiZine: the Journal of Canadian Food Cultures) and CHC past president Fiona Lucas will speak about their new book, Catharine Parr Traill’s Female Emigrant’s Guide: Cooking with a Canadian Classic. Attendees will have a chance to examine some of the library’s holdings that relate to pioneer Catharine Parr Traill, her family and her domestic writing.
  • Saturday, July 1 (Canada Day): Cross-Canada Confederation Picnic—CHC invites members and friends across the country to host an 1867-themed picnic and share their photos and videos via a website created for the purpose.
  • July (Date TBA): Railway Food: A Presentation and Meal, Falstaff Family Centre, Stratford, Ontario.
  • Saturday, August 12: Lucy Maud Montgomery Outing, Norval & Glen Williams, Ontario—A full-day tour to the home and gardens where Anne of Green Gables author Lucy Maud Montgomery lived from 1926 to 1935. Includes a lunch and transportation from the Toronto area.
  • Saturday, October 21: Annual General Meeting.
  • November (Date TBA): Remembrance Day at the Royal Agricultural Winter Fair, Enercare Centre, Exhibition Place, Toronto—Presentations on the theme of 1867: Confederation. Also, the CHC will sponsor two Heritage categories in the fair’s Jams, Jellies and Pickling Competition.
  • Autumn (Date TBA): Taste Canada Awards Gala, Arcadian Court, Toronto—CHC will sponsor the Taste Canada Hall of Fame Awards.
  • November/December (Date TBA): Victorian Cooking Class, Montgomery’s Inn, Etobicoke, Ontario—A hands-on cooking class in the historic kitchen.
  • December (Date TBA): Frost Fair at Fort York.
More images from Baking for the Victorian Christmas Table. Photos by Carolyn Crawford (top left and right, bottom right) and Sarah Hood (bottom left).
Join the Culinary Historians of Canada!



The membership year runs from one Annual General Meeting (usually in October) to the next. Download a membership form here and join us today! 

News and Opportunities




It's Time to Celebrate Canada 150!
Welcome in Canada’s sesquicentennial celebration year, the 150th anniversary of Confederation. Special signature projects are planned across the country, and many of them have culinary content, from the 4-H Connecting Canadians project to We Are the Best by Ricardo, a series of 52 videos about our national terroir.

In addition, Canada’s national parks and historic sites are offering free admission all year with a Discovery Pass. A wealth of community projects will also be unrolling, like Sustainable Red Deer Society's Canada 150 Edible Forest Garden and Uninterrupted, a high-tech video installation about migrating salmon that will be created by the Pacific Salmon Foundation on a Vancouver bridge.

CHC's celebrations include our Canada 150 Food Blog Challenge (see details above) and Confederation picnic project (to take place on the Canada Day weekend). They’re part of a huge roster of other projects united under the 150 Alliance banner. Further projects are being planned by the Community Foundations of Canada, including:
  • The Nanaimo Five-Acre Farm Project of the Nanaimo Foodshare Society and the Growing Opportunities Farm Community Cooperative (Nanaimo, British Columbia).
  • The Multicultural Food Project, a community collaboration organized by the North End Harvest Market (Guelph, Ontario).
  • Cuisiner pour se connaître et se comprendre: A newcomer settlement project at Carrefour alimentaire Centre-Sud by Rencontres cuisine, Centre Lartigue and CÉGEP de Vieux Montréal (Montreal).
  • Ensemble de la terre à l’assiette – A rooftop garden in the Hochelaga-Maisonneuve collective kitchen (Montreal).
 

What's Cooking?
Catherine AnnauJennifer Meyer, Irina Mhalache, Stephanie Thomas and Ellen Pekilis, as well as board members Emily McKenzie and Carolyn Crawford, were among the CHC members who participated in CHC’s Baking for the Victorian Christmas Table event on December 16.

This coming Saturday, January 7, CHC member Karen Millyard of JaneAustenDancing is organizing a Twelfth Night Supper and Dance Party at historic Montgomery’s Inn. On the twelfth day of Christmas, she invites participants to “step into the atmosphere of times gone by. Partake in the Yuletide customs of Old England—dance by the fire to live music, eat a delicious historical supper with wassail and other seasonal treats, play traditional games and enjoy the historic inn by candlelight, in all its festive decorations.”

A dance workshop for those newer to English country dancing begins at 3:30 p.m. Dressing, carol singing and games commence at 5, with supper from 6:30 to 8 p.m. Afterwards, participants will dance to live music and enjoy light refreshments served during the break. Historical dress and festive modern clothing are welcome. Admission: $60 (general), $50 (youth, students & seniors). Space is limited and must be booked by January 5. 416-578-1031.

CHC board member Samantha George will be especially busy this year. She’s the curator at Parkwood National Historic State in Oshawa, the estate of auto baron R.S. McLaughlin, which celebrates its 100th birthday in 2017.

CHC member Ellen Pekilis has a food blog called Ellen’s Flavours to Savour. She posted an engaging report on our Baking for the Victorian Christmas Table event with lovely photos.

On the weekends of January 21-22 and 28-29, CHC member Shirley Lum of A Taste of the World will be hosting two of her annual walking and tasting tours of Toronto’s Chinese neighbourhoods. See the event listings below for complete details.

CHC board member Sarah Hood was commissioned to write a short essay on Victorian bakers in Upper Canada (Ontario) for TVOntario’s website to accompany its Boxing Day marathon of the three-part BBC series “Victorian Bakers.”

Digestible Bits & Bites welcomes news from CHC members. To be included, please feel free to submit updates to cadmus@interlog.com by the 25th of the preceding month.

Events of Interest

Compiled by Sarah Hood and Sher Hackwell

THIS MONTH (January 2017)
  • Sunday, January 1: Hogmanay, 1 to 3:30 p.m. (Peterborough, Ontario). Hutchison House Museum celebrates a Scottish tradition that dates back to the 16th century, when the house was put in order, debts were paid, clocks were wound, musical instruments tuned and clothes mended in readiness for the new year. Visitors will be treated to Scotch black bun (a rich mixture of currants, raisins, peel, spices and whisky baked in a fine pastry dough), clooty dumpling or duff, Scotch eggs, potted salmon, cheeses, oatcakes, shortbread and haggis. In the Highland tradition, the Hogmanay beverage, Atholl Brose, a heated mixture of honey and whisky topped with a dollop of whipped cream and toasted oats, will also be available for an extra fee. A first-footer will be piped in at precisely 1 p.m., followed by a rousing rendition of Burns’ Address to a Haggis. Admission: $7 (adults), $4 (children); $18 (families: 2 adults, 2 children). 705-743-9710.
  • Saturday, January 7: Twelfth Night Supper & Dance Party, 3:30 to 10:30 p.m. (Etobicoke, Ontario). See “What’s Cooking,” above, for further details.
  • Saturday, January 7: Twelfth Night: An Ancient Midwinter Celebration, 8 to 11 p.m. (Cambridge, Ontario). The Mill Race Folk Society celebrates this unique and ancient holiday at the British Club (35 International Village Drive) with a festive buffet, live music, dancing, a traditional Cornish Mummers’ Play, Father Christmas and The Green Man. Costumes encouraged. Admission: $15 in advance, $20 at the door. Cash bar.
  • Tuesday, January 10: Snofest Fireside Tea & Dessert, sittings at 2 and 3 p.m. (Peterborough, Ontario). Hutchison House Museum invites visitors to enjoy scrumptious sweet apple buckle (an old-fashioned dessert similar to apple cobbler) topped with whipped cream. Coffee or tea and dessert will be served by the crackling fire of the keeping room in the 1840s kitchen. Admission: $5, including a tour. Preregistration is required. 705-743-9710.
  • Thursday, January 12: Book Launch: Speaking in Cod Tongues, 4 to 5:30 p.m. (Vancouver). The Centre for Sustainable Food Systems presents a book launch for Speaking in Cod Tongues: A Canadian Culinary Journey by Dr. Lenore Newman at UBC’s Food, Nutrition, and Health Building Atrium, with introductory remarks by Academic Director Dr. Hannah Wittman. Light refreshments will be served. James Chatto writes: “What is Canadian cuisine? Lenore Newman distils much of the current thinking into the erudite and elegantly readable Speaking in Cod Tongues. Her odyssey across the country provides a wealth of culinary detail, giving us a vivid contemporary portrait of Canada’s complex and ever-evolving foodways.” (Lenore Newman will also be presenting a talk for CHC in Toronto next May.)
  • Saturday, January 14: Haggis Cooking Class, 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. (Toronto). Mackenzie House offers a 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. Admission: $30+HST. Preregistration is required. 416-392-6915.
  • Thursday, January 19: Iordan - Feast of Jordan, 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. (Edmonton). Ukrainian Cultural Heritage Village celebrates one of the most important holy days of the Ukrainian church calendar, Iordan, also known as the Feast of the Epiphany. The Friends of the Ukrainian Village Society will be offering food services featuring kutia (boiled wheat sweetened with honey and poppy seed), borshch (beet soup), pyrhoy (perogies) with roast fish, and pampushky (doughnuts).
  • Friday, January 20: Burns’ Night Dinner Celebration, 6 p.m. (Toronto). The St. Andrew’s Society’s annual celebration of Robert Burns at the University Club of Toronto with the traditional piping in and Address to the Haggis, toasts to the Lassies and Laddies, and appropriate literary entertainment. Admission: $130. 416-597-1336.
  • Saturday, January 21: Chinese New Year Dim Sum Dumpling Class, 1 to 3 p.m. (Toronto). The Culinary Historians of Canada present chef and instructor Vanessa Yeung of Aphrodite Cooks, who will offer a hands-on cooking class at the Ralph Thornton Centre to tie in with Chinese New Year. Admission: $65 (general public), $50 (CHC members, students & seniors).
  • Saturday, January 21: Queen Charlotte's Birthday Ball, 1 to 10 p.m. (Toronto). Fort York recreates a significant event in Toronto’s history: a ball offered by the officers of the Garrison at York, held in 1817. The event includes instruction in period dance, a guest lecture, and an extensively researched and authentically prepared Georgian supper representing the culinary history of early-19th-century Toronto, and it concludes with an evening of English country dancing. Costumes are welcome. Admission: $100 + HST. Preregistration is required. 416-392-7484.
  • Saturday & Sunday, January 21 & 22: Annual Toronto Chinese New Year Preps Food Tour with Curated Dim Sum, 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. (Toronto). CHC member Shirley Lum of A Taste of the World hosts this annual food tour of Toronto’s second Chinatown during the exciting preparatory week prior to the Year of the Rooster. There will be equal portions of food for thought and all the senses as Shirley reviews the greetings, the changing customs, superstitions and traditions connected with the new year. Admission: $50, including curated dim sum tasting and tastings at grocery and bakery shops. Capacity: 11. info@Torontowalksbikes.com.
  • Saturday & Sunday, January 21 & 22: Vive les Voyageurs, 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. (Fort Langley, British Columbia). An annual French-Canadian winter festival at Fort Langley National Historic Site. Visitors will explore the unique folklore and culture of the voyageurs and fur traders who lived at 19th-century Fort Langley, with music, dance, maple taffy and poutine. Admission: Complimentary admission for Canada 150. 
  • Thursday, January 26: Thirsty Thursday, 7 to 10 p.m. (Etobicoke, Ontario). Montgomery’s Inn presents Thirsty Thursday tavern night with beer, wine or a Thomas Montgomery specialty in the restored 1847 barroom, along with Irish stew, fresh-baked bread and live traditional music. Admission: Free. Cash bar; $5 for a bowl of stew, while supplies last. 416-394-8113.
  • Thursday, January 26: Food, the Future, and You, 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. (Vancouver). The Centre for Sustainable Food Systems presents a Sustainable Food Systems Symposium at UBC’s Ponderosa Ballroom. It will bring together students, faculty and staff to discuss pathways to just and sustainable food systems. Participants are invited to join the dialogue about what it takes to create and manage a just and sustainable food system and to celebrate the involvement of UBC students with food sustainability research, education and community engagement. Admission: $12 (general), $6 (students).
  • Saturday, January 28: History Tea & Talk, 2 to 3:30 p.m. (Toronto). The Market Gallery presents a talk about the current exhibition (“Unearthing Toronto’s Oldest Marketplace: The Archaeology of the North St. Lawrence Market”) and the history of the St. Lawrence Market neighbourhood, followed by a tea inspired by market ingredients and Edwardian recipes in the Market Kitchen. The menu includes scones with preserves and clotted cream, finger sandwiches, cookies and cake. Admission: $18, including HST. Preregistration is required: classes@themarketkitchen.ca or 416-392-7604.
  • Saturday & Sunday, January 28 & 29: Toronto's Chinese New Year Day Dim Sum—Historical Talk & Tastings, 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. (Toronto). It’s celebration time as we kick off the Year of the Rooster! CHC member Shirley Lum of A Taste of the World hosts this annual food event, complete with history of Toronto’s six Chinatowns, how dim sum evolved in Toronto, and special dim sum and pastry creations for the festivities. Admission: $50, including festive tastings at bakery and grocery stores. Capacity: 11. info@Torontowalksbikes.com.
LOOKING AHEAD (February 2017)
  • Saturday, February 11: Market Fresh: Marmalade & Winter Preserves, 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. (Toronto). The Market Kitchen at the St. Lawrence Market invites participants to work as part of a team to make homemade preserves from seasonal market ingredients, including Meyer Lemon Marmalade, Winterberry Jam and Tequila Pepper Jelly. Admission: $60, including HST and jars to take home. Preregistration is required. Contact classes@themarketkitchen.ca.
  • Saturday, February 18: 10th Annual Mad for Marmalade, Crazy for Citrus! (Toronto). Fort York National Historic SiteSee news item, above.
  • Saturday, February 18: History Tea & Talk, 2 to 3:30 p.m. (Toronto). The Market Gallery presents a talk about the current exhibition (“Unearthing Toronto’s Oldest Marketplace: The Archaeology of the North St. Lawrence Market”) and the history of the St. Lawrence Market neighbourhood, followed by a tea inspired by market ingredients and Edwardian recipes in the Market Kitchen. The menu includes scones with preserves and clotted cream, finger sandwiches, cookies and cake. Admission: $18, including HST. Preregistration is required: classes@themarketkitchen.ca or 416-392-7604.
  • Monday, February 20: Family Day at Dundurn National Historic Site, noon to 4 p.m. (Hamilton, Ontario). A guided tour of Dundurn Castle, hands-on activities and sampling of historic goodies made in the kitchen. Admission: $11.50 (adults), $9.50 (seniors & youth), $6 (children), free (infants); $30 (family).
  • Thursday, February 23: Thirsty Thursday, 7 to 10 p.m. (Etobicoke, Ontario). Montgomery’s Inn presents Thirsty Thursday tavern night with beer, wine or a Thomas Montgomery specialty in the restored 1847 barroom, along with Irish stew, fresh-baked bread and live traditional music. Admission: Free. Cash bar; $5 for a bowl of stew, while supplies last. 416-394-8113.
  • Saturday, February 25: Stock Exchange: Historic Cooking Demonstration, 10 a.m. to noon (Hamilton, Ontario). Dundurn National Historic Site presents a cooking demonstration in the remarkable historic kitchen below stairs, where costumed cooks will guide participants through a variety of authentic 19th-century soup recipes using a wood-fired cast-iron range. Suitable for ages 12 and up. Admission: $45, including a sampling of the soups and a tour. Preregistration is required.


CONTINUING
  • Sundays: Gibson House Tea & Tour, 1 to 4:30 p.m. (Toronto). Every Sunday, there’s tea, cookies and a seat for you at the harvest table in the 1850s historic kitchen. Free with regular admission.
  • Indefinite run: 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.
  • To Monday, January 2: Heritage Christmas at Burnaby Village Museum, various hours (Burnaby, British Columbia). Light displays, a Holiday Sing-Along and a chance to stroll through the streets of the village decked with wreaths, cedar swags and vintage-themed displays. Favourite family activities include children’s crafts, baking in the farmhouse and, of course, visits with Father Christmas. Admission: Free. Carousel rides: $2.60.
  • To Sunday, January 8, 2017: All Together Now: Vancouver Collectors and Their Worlds (Vancouver). The Museum of Vancouver presents an exhibit of 20 beautiful, rare and unconventional collections, including Chinese restaurant menus gathered by Imogene Lim.
  • To March 18: Unearthing Toronto's Oldest Marketplace: The Archaeology of the North St. Lawrence Market (Toronto). The North St. Lawrence Market is about to undergo a major rebuild. As part of that process, the citizens of Toronto will have a rare opportunity to look into the city’s past as the building site undergoes a major archaeological dig. Concurrently, the Market Gallery will exhibit archaeological finds from the site, along with historical maps, artworks, photographs and artifacts to tell the story of North America’s longest-running continually operating food market, established in 1803. As the dig continues, new information will be added to the exhibit, showing how historical understanding can change as new research is conducted. 416-392-7604
  • To Spring 2017 (closed January 1): Women on the Homefront – Women’s Contributions During World War II, 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. (Steveston, British Columbia). Gulf of Georgia Cannery presents an exhibit that shows how it was the women of Canada who harvested the crops, kept factories running, looked after the children and raised money for the war effort while thousands of Canadian men were overseas. Admission: $7.80 (adults), $6.55 (seniors), $3.90 (youth); $19.60 (family).

Upcoming Conferences

Compiled by Julia Armstrong

April 26 to 28, 2017 (Napa Valley, California)
WORLD FLAVORS: CASUAL BY DESIGN
From food trucks to quality home-delivery services, casual food and casual dining are igniting the passions of consumers and professionals. For its 19th Worlds of Flavor International Conference and Festival, the Culinary Institute of America has invited food-service experts from around the world to look at the factors driving this rapidly changing landscape.

May 27 to 30, 2017 (Toronto, Ontario)
12th ANNUAL ASSEMBLY OF THE CANADIAN ASSOCIATION FOR FOOD STUDIES (CAFS)

Deadline for proposals: January 15, 2017
CAFS presents Food in Canada and Beyond: Communities, Collaboration, Complexity” as part of the Congress of the Humanities and Social Sciences, to be held at Ryerson University. Organizers invite submissions that examine the shaping of Canadian identities and Canada’s food systems and food movements. See the suggested topics in the detailed call for abstracts. Presentation types: 15-minute papers, themed panels, discussions of teaching methods in food studies, short-form (5-minute) talks, and cookbook and poster displays.

June 1 to 2, 2017 (Tours, France)
3rd INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE ON FOOD HISTORY AND CULTURES
The European Institute for Food History and Cultures/Institut Européen d’Histoire et des Cultures de l’Alimentation partners with the Food Studies team (L’Equipe Alimentation – LEA) at François-Rabelais University in Tours to present its third multi- and cross-disciplinary conference, which will cover all historical periods.


June 8 to 9, 2017 (Antwerp, Belgium)
ESNA CONFERENCE: FOOD, GLORIOUS FOOD

Deadline for proposals: January 15, 2017
Organized by ESNA (European Society for Nineteenth-Century Art) and MAS (Museum Aan de Stroom) Antwerp, in conjunction with the exhibition Antwerp à la carte, this symposium intends to study the various and complex relationships between food, the experience of eating and 19th-century art. Proposals for papers are invited on the depiction of markets, shops, restaurants, kitchens and dining rooms, picnics, agriculture, social status, etiquette and more.

June 14 to 17, 2017 (Los Angeles, California)
JOINT CONFERENCE OF THE AGRICULTURE, FOOD, AND HUMAN VALUES SOCIETY (AFHVS) AND THE ASSOCIATION FOR THE STUDY OF FOOD AND SOCIETY (ASFS)
Deadline for proposals: January 31, 2017
This year’s theme is Migrating Food Cultures: Engaging Pacific Perspectives on Food and Agriculture. In the call for abstracts, organizers invite explorations of links between the food production and consumption of the Pacific region and its environmental, social and cultural resources.


July 7 to 9, 2017 (Oxford, England)
OXFORD SYMPOSIUM ON FOOD & COOKERY

Deadline for proposals: January 20, 2017
The Oxford Symposium was founded and co-chaired by Alan Davidson, a renowned food historian and author of The Oxford Companion to Food, and Dr. Theodore Zeldin, the pre-eminent social historian of France. This years theme, Food and Landscape, provides the scope for a range of possible topics. NOTE: Anyone can download proceedings from years past (for free!).

October 18 to 20, 2017 (Krems, Austria)
3rd CULINARY AND WINE TOURISM CONFERENCE

Deadline for proposals: March 31, 2017
Tourism researchers, practitioners and academics gather to examine topics ranging from tourists preferences to marketing strategies. The call for abstracts includes matters of interest to historic cooks and museum staff: experiential consumption, innovative cultural experiences, storytelling, and the history and tradition of culinary and/or wine tourism. (Conference language is English.)

October 26 to 27, 2017 (Rome, Italy)
7th INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE ON FOOD STUDIES
Participants will consider food production and sustainability, the interrelationships of food and health, and food politics and cultures; see the descriptions of this year
three themes and special focus. Hosted by Gustolab International Institute for Food Studies and Roma Tre University.

Food for Thought


   

Onions and Garlic: A Global History by Martha Jay
(The Edible Series, Reaktion Books, 2016). Reviewed by Elka Weinstein, pictured above

Like the other books in the Edible Series, Onions and Garlic is a general historical survey aimed at a non-specialist audience. It is entertaining and short, and is rather better written and edited than some of the others in the series. The book focuses on the allium family, with more emphasis on onions than garlic.  

Almost every culture uses onions and garlic to flavour food, and onions are in fact the second most important horticultural crop in the world after tomatoes. China grows the most onions, followed by India, the US, Egypt and Iran, according to 2010 statistics released by the UN Food and Agriculture Organization. Libyans eat the most onions, on average 33.6 kg (74 lb) each.  

Both onions and garlic, like many staple crops eaten around the world today, probably originated in Mesopotamia, the area between the Tigris and Euphrates rivers. It is considered the “Cradle of Civilization,” and is the place where wheat, barley, goats, sheep and cattle were first domesticated. We know about these crops from the cuneiform tablets that were the first form of writing to emerge from ancient civilizations, wherein early commodities were recorded for accounting purposes. A few ancient recipes survive from these early times, among them dishes that include onions, garlic and leeks. 

The word for “leek” in Ancient Egyptian was also the word for all vegetables—Herodotus recorded that inscriptions on the Great Pyramid at Giza detailed how much was spent on onions, leeks and radishes to be fed to the workmen—and indeed the word “leac-tun” in Old English means vegetable garden, and “leac-ward” gardener. And, of course, the humble leek is the symbol of Wales.  

Jay’s discussion of the use of various types of alliums is interesting, with excursions to the medieval onion and the improvement of breeds of onions, as well as an examination of folklore with regard to garlic’s anti-vampire properties. 

“Onions at War” is also the subject of an online article by Jay, which explores the role of onion growing in Britain and includes a section on “onion johnnies”—the young men from Brittany who sold onions door-to-door on bicycles until just before the Second World War. Finally, the photos and paintings that accompany the writing are excellent illustrations, and are a nice compliment to the text.

Review Contributors
  • Julia Armstrong (Toronto)
  • Sher Hackwell (Vancouver)
  • Shirley Lum (Toronto)
  • Dana Moran (Ottawa)
  • Susan Peters (Morrisburg, Ontario)
  • Elka Weinstein (Toronto)
If you are a CHC member who would also like to contribute, please contact Publications Chair Sarah Hood at cadmus@interlog.com.
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 ask to be on the distribution list. 

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