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Banner: Bon Appétit! - A Celebration of Canadian Cookbooks
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Canada's First CooksThe Pioneer KitchenRevolutions In The KitchenThe Culture Of Cooking

Revolutions In The Kitchen


In the 20th century, cooking adopted an increasingly scientific approach, and concern about proper nutrition began to assume a more central role.

With the introduction of gas and electric stoves, electric refrigerators, canned goods, preserving jars and various gadgets during the first few decades of the century, it became easier to prepare a wider range of dishes. It was expected that these aids, along with the home delivery of bread, milk and butter, would make life easier for women. Instead, household standards were raised, and housewives were expected to do more. Since servants were no longer deemed necessary for most people, the burden on the homemaker actually increased.

With food options gradually becoming less dependent on what was seasonally available, the sense that there was a right time to eat various fruits and vegetables began to be lost, and with it some of the enjoyment of the local harvest.

Cover of cookbook, COOKERY, in brown leather with embossing around the edges and a gold illustration of a covered serving dish Source

 

Title page of cookbook, COOKERY, with an epigraph by Brillat-Savarin Source

 

Page 66 of cookbook, COOKERY, with recipes for Soufflé de Perdrix, Boudin à la Richelieu and Italian Polpetti Source

 

Page 67 of cookbook, COOKERY, with recipes for Croustades of Snow-Birds and Kidney à la Tartare Source

Amy G. Richards. Cookery. Montréal: E.M. Renouf, 1895

Nineteenth-century teacher Amy Richards dedicated her book to her many pupils. She noted that a great deal of attention was given at the time to the subject of cookery, yet many were still woefully ignorant of that important household art.

Cover of cookbook, HYGIÈNE DE L'ALIMENTATION ET PROPRIÉTÉS CHIMIQUES DES ALIMENTS Source

 

Amélie DesRoches. Hygiène de l'alimentation et propriétés chimiques des aliments. Neuville, Que.: s.n., 1912

The aim of this little book, published in 1912, was to instruct young girls in the art of healthy cooking. "In this work, I have omitted anything fantastic in nature; this book is, above all, useful and practical" [translation] (p. vii).

Cover of cookbook, CANADIAN COOK BOOK Source

 

Title page of cookbook, CANADIAN COOK BOOK Source

Nellie Lyle Pattinson. Canadian Cook Book. 4th ed. Toronto: Ryerson Press, 1927

Nellie Pattinson's cookbook, first published in 1923, satisfied a demand for a recipe book that could be conveniently used by teachers and students in technical schools. Pattinson was one of the first authors to refer to the new science of nutrition. Her book, still in print, has been republished in updated versions every few years.

Cover of cookbook, LA CUISINE RAISONNÉE Source

 

Unumbered page of cookbook, LA CUISINE RAISONNÉE, with pictures of meat, vegetables, dairy products, fruit, grains and fats, and the text CE QU'IL FAUT MANGER Source

Congrégation de Notre-Dame. La cuisine raisonnée. 4th ed. Québec: Congrégation de Notre-Dame, 1943

The existence of vitamins (unrelated chemical substances that are all necessary for life) is one the most significant discoveries of our century. The word vitamin comes from the Latin vita, meaning life.


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