Every summer, whenever Mom and I go to one of the small-town farmers’ markets in our neighbourhood, she pulls out a pot when we get back to her house and sets a simple syrup to simmering. She doesn’t ask for help — her vision is failing, but she knows her way around her bungalow — […] Read more
Winter fruit, part 2: Peaches
Fruits in a Prairie winter, part 1: Blueberries
Picked fresh or cooked into favourite foods, those purple berries leave their mark in memories
Last week I made jam from blueberries I had frozen last summer, when it was just too hot to consider canning. Stirring the pot reminded me of other lovely ways and words with the blue fruit. “The way the night tastes” is how the U.S. poet W.S. Merwin described blueberries. Another poet, Mary Oliver, wrote […] Read more
Under pressure: Cooking with the Instant Pot
Safety concerns dimmed the pressure cooker’s star until the Instant Pot came on the scene
In “Under Pressure,” Queen’s Freddie Mercury teams up with David Bowie to sing that “love dares you to change our way of caring about ourselves.” Changing is a challenge, even when I might care for myself and my family more efficiently by adopting something new. Two weeks ago I recounted my experience with a new […] Read more
Cooking with hot air
I am a purist. I like classic methods and techniques with proven results. And I love knowing that what I am doing in my Prairie farm kitchen has been done for centuries by others in kitchens far different from mine. There are only so many ways of transforming raw food into a meal. Regardless of […] Read more
Metaphors in baking
First We Eat: A geologic way to think of cakes and cookies
I drove into the southern heartland of Saskatchewan last week, threading through the Qu’Appelle Valley, rolling down undulating slopes past hoodoos to the valley floor, across the bridge, then back up again to the upper deck of land that faces south. The escarpment in the south end of the province remains invisible to anyone traversing […] Read more
New Canadiana Cookbooks: Where We Ate
First We Eat: A look at Canadian dining over the decades, through the lens of our country’s iconic eateries
As I read Where We Ate by Gabby Peyton, I fell down a rabbit hole of memory. The book, a history of Canadian dining from pre-Confederation to COVID, profiles 150 restaurants by decades. Turns out I have eaten in 26 of them. “Almost all our restaurant food is immigrant food,” Peyton writes. “We’d be remiss […] Read more
New Canadiana Cookbooks: The Miracle of Salt
First We Eat: Using an age-old technique to preserve, ferment and transform your food
One way to gauge the importance of something in culture is to look at the word’s use in everyday language. When it comes to salt, we have many linguistic idioms and turns of phrase. Salt of the earth. Salty old dog. Salty language. Rubbing salt in a wound. Taking things with a grain of salt. […] Read more
New Canadiana Cookbooks: Prairie
Seasonal, farm-fresh recipes celebrate Prairie traditions
A flurry of recent books dishes up Prairie eats, among them tawâw: Progressive Indigenous Cuisine by Shane Chartrand and Jennifer Cockrall-King; Only in Saskatchewan: Recipes and Stories from the Province’s Best-Loved Eateries by Naomi Hansen; Eat Alberta First: A Year of Local Recipes from Where the Prairies Meet the Mountains by Karen Anderson; and Vegetables: […] Read more
A new Canadiana cookbook
First We Eat: ‘What We Talk About When We Talk About Dumplings’
Two things happen after I read What We Talk About When We Talk About Dumplings, an essay collection with recipes published by Coach House Books. First, I take my elderly Momsy to our favourite dim sum palace, where we eat many types of Chinese dumplings. Then I take myself into my kitchen and make some […] Read more
New Canadiana cookbooks: Only in Saskatchewan
First We Eat: Author Naomi Hansen provides a guide to province’s best-loved eateries
The Saskatchewan Book Awards were a highlight of my family’s spring. My novel, Danceland Diary, was a shortlisted finalist in the fiction category, and we all converged on the awards gala in Saskatoon to mark the occasion. I decided to have fun regardless of outcome. My novel, which took nine years to write, has received […] Read more
Cyber-Savvy Farmer
