Book Review: Chop Suey Nation: The Legion Café and Other Stories From Canada’s Chinese Restaurants, by Ann Hui, Douglas and McIntyre, 2019. Ann Hui is a food reporter for the Globe and Mail. She writes about her fascination with Chinese Canadian cuisine, sometimes called “chop suey” cuisine or in her family, “fake” Chinese food. […]
Tag Archives | Intergenerational food stories
Easter Ham: Scruffy Hospitality
The Easter Ham was a tradition in my family. Neither 12-foot drifts, 75 mile-an-hour winds, or the prospect of having to walk up to 25 miles could stop our dad from getting home to carve it. On March 15 and 16 of 1951, a huge snowstorm swept through Central and Northern Alberta. On the first […]
On Strike for “Fair” Chocolate
On Strike for “fair” Chocolate In the previous blog, I highlighted the irony that Carol Off considered in her book Bitter Chocolate[i] and the vast distance she described between the hand that picks the cocoa and the hand that picks the chocolate bar from the store shelf in our community. In both cases the hands […]
Wedding Cake Recipe Search
Wedding Cake Recipe Search Few food historians can resist the urge to help someone find a recipe. When the BC Food History Network received a request for a wedding cake recipe, we all tried to help. Here’s the request: Hi there, I had a lady make my wedding cake in 1989 in Victoria BC. The […]
Cuban Lunch
Cuban Lunch ** (see note at bottom re comments) The Cuban Lunch is a true Western Canadian chocolate bar and hasn’t been made for almost thirty years. Thanks to a Camrose woman and her mother’s love of this chocolate-peanut candy, it’s available once again. Winnipeg claims to be the original source (this is hardly […]
Sushi in British Columbia
When did sushi come to British Columbia? BC’s claim to the California Roll begins with the assertion that Chef Hidekazu Tojo of Vancouver first introduced it to Canadian and international tourists. Because the roll was so popular with tourists from Los Angeles, he named it after their home state. However food historians in California say it […]
Best loved cookbooks
Best-loved cookbooks, the ones with food stains all over the pages and split bindings are very far philosophically from coffee-table cookbooks with beautiful photographs and exotic ingredients. They’ve become popular ideas these days for contests. The Old Grist Mill at Keremeos featured a “dirtiest cookbook” […]
Quantity cookery
Quantity cookery, or cooking for large groups of people, is an underrated skill and one that needs to be retrieved. Considering that $31billion worth of food is wasted each year in Canada, amounting to 40% of all food produced, food waste is both an economic and a social problem. Of the 40% of food currently […]
Butter-making
Butter-making Butter-making used to be a mark of excellent housekeeping for farm women. It requires close attention to sanitation and methodical treatment, from the way the cow is milked to the removal of liquid in the final working of the end product. It is both a science and an art and has been part of […]
Laura Rose – Canada’s Dairying Queen
Laura Rose Stephen (1866-1963) was Canada’s Dairying Queen. Until big business took over the Canadian dairying industry she had a profound influence on quality and production of dairy products. She was born at Georgetown, Ontario, daughter of Lawrence Rose, a flour mill owner and had at least one sister and five brothers. The famous “Five […]