Teatime Around the World by Denyse Waissbluth, illustrated by Chelsea O’Byrne Vancouver: Greystone Books, 2020 $22.95 / 9781771646017 Reviewed by Caileigh Broatch * Teatime Around the World invites readers to afternoon tea with an English duchess, to drink green mint tea in Morocco, and buy masala chai from chai wallah vendors in India. Within the…
Read more 1011 No teacup left unstirred
Lure: Sustainable Seafood Recipes from the West Coast by Ned Bell with Valerie Howes Vancouver: Figure 1 Publishing, 2017 $29.99 / 9781773270876 Reviewed by Gillian Crowther * What is the bait for cooks? Ingredients? Recipes? What makes us cast our eyes over a cookbook? The cover? The title? The author? The search for inspiration? The…
Read more 1005 Ready, steady, halibut
Show Me the Honey: Adventures of an Accidental Apiarist by Dave Doroghy, foreword by Rick Hansen Victoria: TouchWood Editions, 2020 $25.00 / 9781771513227 Reviewed by Natalie Lang * Bees. Those black and yellow winged creatures buzzing about and smelling the roses; perhaps there is more to them than meets the eye. Do they hold the…
Read more #971 Aphorisms from an apiarist
Valleys of Wine: A Taste of British Columbia’s Wine History by Luke Whittall Vancouver: Whitecap Books, 2019 $29.95 / 9781770503168 Reviewed by Bill Engleson * I cook with wine. Sometimes I even add it to the food. — W.C Fields What wine goes with Captain Crunch? — George Carlin I like the wine and not…
Read more #951 New wine in new bottles
The Larder of the Wise: The Story of Vancouver’s James Inglis Reid Limited by M. Anne Wyness, with a foreword by Michael Kluckner Vancouver: Figure 1 Publishing, 2019 $32.99 / 9781773271187 Reviewed by Mary Leah de Zwart * In The Larder of the Wise: The Story of James Inglis Reid Limited, M. Anne Wyness promises…
Read more #949 Haggis and Scotch pies
Gather at Home: Over 100 Simple Recipes, DIYs, and Inspiration for a Year of Occasions by Monika Hibbs Toronto: Penguin Random House, 2020 $35.00 / 9780735236288 Reviewed by Jessica Poon * Gather at Home by Monika Hibbs is undeniably picturesque in the most conventional way possible. Hibbs is a lifestyle influencer, a daring career choice…
Read more #944 Food, flowers, and aspiration
Farm the City: A Toolkit for Setting up a Successful Urban Farm by Michael Ableman Gabriola: New Society, 2020 $19.95 / 9780865719392 Reviewed by Rose Morrison * While Michael Ableman’s Farm the City: A Toolkit for Setting up a Successful Urban Farm is written as a primer for those wishing to start an in-town farm,…
Read more #932 Ableman’s urban agriculture
Edible and Medicinal Flora of the West Coast: British Columbia and the Pacific Northwest by Collin Varner Victoria: Heritage House, 2020 $22.95 / 9781772033236 Reviewed by Rose Morrison * A book authored by British Columbia horticulturist Collin Varner is always worthwhile. Varner’s latest publication, Edible and Medicinal Flora of the West Coast: British Columbia and…
Read more #894 Varner’s wild foods & cures
The BC Wine Lover’s Cookbook: Recipes & Stories from Wineries Across British Columbia by Jennifer Schell, foreword by John Schreiner Toronto: Penguin Random House (Appetite by Random House), 2020 $35.00 / 9780525610366 Reviewed by Harvey De Roo * There’s something special about wine country and its people, and what better guide than Jennifer Schell, former editor…
Read more #893 Schell’s wine and food tour
Rocky Mountain Cooking: Recipes to Bring Canada’s Backcountry Home by Katie Mitzel Toronto: Penguin Random House Canada [Appetite by Random House], 2019 $25.00 / 9780147530981 Reviewed by Luanne Armstrong * I love reading cookbooks, especially in the winter, partly because in my community, every winter dinner is a potluck and also because winter just seems…
Read more #855 Rocky Mountain cooking
Footprints of a Foodie by Tanya dePape Victoria: FriesenPress Publishers, 2019 $30.99 / 9781525548307 Reviewed by Natalie Lang * Have you ever felt the need to uproot your life, visit a far off place, and reboot your perspective? Vancouver Island clinical counsellor Tanya dePape, in the wake of a divorce and several failed attempts at…
Read more #829 A pre-Covid foodie flyabout
The Olive Oil and Vinegar Lover’s Cookbook by Emily Lycopolus Victoria: Touchwood Editions, 2019 (revised and updated second edition; first published 2015) $45.00 / 9781771513029 Reviewed by Natalie Lang * In A Room of One’s Own, Virginia Woolf wrote “One cannot think well, love well, sleep well, if one has not dined well.” This maxim…
Read more #781 Oil and vinegar, Italy and Canada
Lost Feast: Culinary Extinction and the Future of Food by Lenore Newman Toronto: ECW Press, 2019 $32.95/ 9781770414358 Reviewed by Mary Leah de Zwart, Linda Peterat, and Gale Smith of the BC Food History Network * Lenore Newman is a culinary geographer, professor, and holder of a Canada Research Chair in Food Security and the…
Read more #707 Food extinction alert
DIY Mushroom Cultivation: Growing Mushrooms at Home for Food, Medicine, and Soil by Willoughby Arevalo Gabriola Island: New Society, 2019 $29.95 / 9780865718951 Reviewed by Gillian Crowther * Fungi in our intimate living spaces need not be a cause for dehumidifiers, urgent house repairs, or structural remediation. It can be cause for celebration — especially…
Read more #702 Hungry for home mushrooms
Cedar + Salt: Vancouver Island Recipes from Forest, Farm, Field, and Sea by D.L. Acken and Emily Lycopolus Victoria: Touchwood Editions, 2019 $45.00 / 9781771512947 Reviewed by Harvey De Roo * Is it that books published on the Pacific Northwest coast are particularly beautiful, or just any book with the photos of Danielle Acken and…
Read more #668 Eating local on Vancouver Island
Extraordinary Ornamental Edibles: 100 Perennials, Trees, Shrubs and Vines for Canadian Gardens by Mike Lascelle Madeira Park: Douglas & McIntyre 2018 $24.95 / 9781771621793 Reviewed by Grahame Ware * This is quite the book — or guide, as the publishers like to refer to it. The author, Mike Lascelle, is currently a nursery manager at…
Read more #597 Lascelle’s ordinary & exotic food
Chop Suey Nation: The Legion Cafe and Other Stories from Canada’s Chinese Restaurants by Ann Hui Madeira Park: Douglas & McIntyre, 2019 $24.95 / 9781771622226 Reviewed by Imogene Lim * In March 2019, B.C. Bestseller Chop Suey Nation, by Ann Hui, was awarded the 2019 Dr. Edgar Wickberg Book Prize by the Chinese Canadian Historical…
Read more #592 Ginger beef and fried macaroni
One-Pot Wonders: James Barber’s Recipes for Land and Sea by James Barber Madeira Park: Harbour Publishing, 2019 (first published 2006) $14.95 / 9781550178715 Reviewed by Derek von Essen * There are few Canadian chefs I could name off the top of my head. In fact, there are only two: the Galloping Gourmet, whose real name…
Read more #581 Cookbook for a dystopian future
Little Island Bake Shop: The Heirloom Recipes Made for Sharing by Jana Roerick Vancouver: Figure 1 Publishing, 2019 $34.99 / 9781773270630 Reviewed by Harvey De Roo * A wonderful thing about human beings is the variety of their passions. There’s a place for all interests, with hundreds of occupations out there, all filled, because someone…
Read more #564 Going sweet on Salt Spring Island
The Co-op Revolution: Vancouver’s Search For Food Alternatives by Jan DeGrass, with a foreword by Rick Scott Halfmoon Bay: Caitlin Press, 2019 $24.95 / 9781987915952 * Grocery Story: The Promise of Food Co-ops in the Age of Grocery Giants by Jon Steinman Gabriola: New Society Publishers, 2019 $19.99 / 9780865719071 * Both books reviewed by…
Read more #563 BC’s community food co-ops