Quill & Quire
I’ve always wondered why Canadian Thanksgiving takes place in October. Did it have to do with typical anti-Americanism or was there a more profound reason?
What’s to Eat? has the answer. At one time, Canadian Thanksgiving took place in November. But the 1918 armistice resulted in a new November holiday, Remembrance Day. For ten years, the two holidays were celebrated on the same day. In 1931, veterans upset by the merging of the two led an outcry, and Thanksgiving moved to October. It is this kind of gem that makes
What’s to Eat a mostly fascinating collection of essays on Canadian food culture and culinary history. Edited by Nathalie Cooke, associate dean of arts at McGill University and editor of
CuiZine: the (e)journal of Canadian Food Cultures, the book embraces the current interest in local foods and our putative “moment of culinary introspection.” Cooke divides the book into two sections. The first looks at continuities between current practices and those of the past, specifically those of European settlers and First Nations. The second part looks at the ways in which differences in culinary activity throughout Canada’s history appeared. The 12 essays address subjects such as the disputed history of the tourtière (possibly derived from the
cipaille, or sea pie); European misunderstandings about the Aboriginal approach to agriculture; attempts at identifying a Canadian cuisine; and a quirky look at metaphorical recipes such as “How to Cook a Husband.” The essays that work best contain a surplus of details, such as Victoria Dickenson’s examination of how early French explorers struggled to identify New World foods and Sarah Musgrave’s history of the revival of Red Fife wheat. But often, authors leave their readers with more questions than answers. For example, how did the 18th-century practice of drinking chocolate give way to eating chocolate at the turn of the 20th? And why not provide examples of how the veterans protested against the November Thanksgiving? For a book that is about giving voice to the Canadian experience, whether by dissecting cookbooks or analyzing the Chinese experience of small-town life, such silence shows that scholarship in this field still has a way to go.
Review
"There is virtually no Canadian content available regarding everyday food practices, the development and meanings of domestic cooking, and the roles of food and meals in family life. This book is a welcome addition and makes a highly significant contribution to the field of Canadian food studies." Gwen Chapman, University of British Columbia "What's to Eat? has something for everyone on its menu. It gives the new interdisciplinary field of food studies in Canada a strong sense of where we've come from, who we are, and where we're going." Elaine Power, Queen's University
