Cooking with a Canadian Classic: A Talk on a New Edition ​of Catharine Parr Traill’s 1855 "The Female Emigrant’s Guide"

120 St. George Street, Toronto, Ontario M5S 1A5
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Join the editors of the new edition of Catharine Parr Traill's classic The Female Emigrant's Guide for a talk about the book.  The event will take place on Saturday, June 3rd from 2:00-3:15 p.m. at the Thomas Fisher Rare Book Library in Toronto. Admission is $18 (general) and $15 for Culinary Historians of Canada members.  Tickets can be purchased here.

In this deluxe new edition of Traill’s book, subtitled Cooking with a Canadian Classic, editors Nathalie Cooke and Fiona Lucas bring new life and a new look to The Emigrant’s Guide, unlocking a wealth of information on historical foodways and culinary exploration, and they show why this 160-year-old work is still relevant – and fascinating – today.  In their presentation, Cooke and Lucas will share some tales of bringing Traill’s book back into circulation, showcasing a few of its best recipes, and the ways it can enrich not only our culinary knowledge, but also our appreciation of Canadian history both in and out of the kitchen. Samples of some of the recipes will be available after the presentation.

To complement the talk, there will be an exhibit of an early edition of The Female Emigrant’s Guide, works by other members of Traill’s family, and related materials at the Fisher Library. Special Projects Librarian Elizabeth Ridolfo will give a brief introduction to these holdings.

Catharine Parr Traill’s The Female Emigrant's Guide

Cooking with a Canadian Classic

A guidebook for women immigrants to nineteenth-century Canada in a deluxe edition that shows why it is still relevant today.

What did you eat for dinner today? Did you make your own cheese? Butcher your own pig? Collect your own eggs? Drink your own home-brewed beer? Shanty bread leavened with hops-yeast, venison and wild rice stew, gingerbread cake with maple sauce, and dandelion coffee - this was an ordinary backwoods meal in Victorian-era Canada. Originally published in 1855, Catharine Parr Traill’s classic The Female Emigrant’s Guide, with its admirable recipes, candid advice, and astute observations about local food sourcing, offers an intimate glimpse into the daily domestic and seasonal routines of settler life.
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