Cooking and Canadian Culture by Mel

I grew up in a home where there were there were little or no processed foods. We ate our cereal with dark brown sugar, used honey over sugar because in the 70s it was widely believed to be much healthier (now we know sugar is sugar is sugar and it's "bad" for you) Anyways, I digress.

My first real experience with using recipes came when I was maybe 8 years old, but I will have to ask my mom to confirm my age. I know I was quite young and we lived in a house across from the one room Moyie Elementary School. I wanted to have a dinner party for my family and our family friends Hank and Wendy. I got the recipes from The Purity Cookbook, and the menu I planned was: Corn Casserole, BBQ Spareribs and Jellied Shrimp Salad and Baked Apples for dessert. I was SO SO proud of myself! I even made the BBQ sauce from a recipe out of that book! The only glitch was when I stabbed the palm of my hand with the apple corer ouch! But even that couldn't have ruined the evening for me.

Every summer and fall we would drive from Moyie BC to Creston BC to buy cases of tomatoes, cucumbers, peaches, apples, cherries, and apricots to can at home. The most memorable canned goods our kitchen produced was the crab apple jelly my mom made one year. It was the most gorgeous shade of pink, and tasted amazing, especially on pancakes!

Whenever I think of cooking with my mom, I think of the Harrowsmith Cookbook. It seems it was ever present, propped open on our kitchen counter as stews bubbled, and soups boiled on our gas or wood stoves. I emailed my mom tonight to see if she can please send me some recipes that she likes best from those cookbooks.

In the meantime, I came across this website from Library and Archives Canada called Bon Apetite, a Celebration of Canadian Cookbooks.
There is an wealth of information on this site, that will take me a while to read, but I fully intend on devouring this site. Check this out: Remember Food Company Publications?

I grew up watching this guy cook on CBC TV! My son Devon grew up watching this guy on CBC. (seriously, Dev was 2 years old and would race to the TV whenever he heard the theme music for The Urban Peasant come on, and would shriek, :Mommy it's James Barbaaaa! James Barbaaaaaaa'z on!")

Also on this site, the entire New Galt Cookbook is available:
"The New Galt Cook Book is a revised edition of a book that was popular in English Canada, particularly in the vicinity of Galt in south-western Ontario. The publishers also claimed that copies of the book were sent to China, Egypt, India, South Africa, Australia and the United States. Like many early cookbooks, this collection offered recipes as well as hints for simplifying domestic chores, and a list of cures for common illnesses."