Macdonald Was Late for Dinner: A Slice of Culinary Life in Early Canada

Christy Conte is a Toronto-based freelance writer.

This is a truly charming look at how people lived and ate in early
Canada. The recipes range from the uninspired (Aunt Fanny’s Oatmeal
Cookies) to the sublime (Negus Ice, a subtly flavored water ice likely
served at Rideau Hall).

Beeson’s anecdotal but historically accurate text is arranged so that
we travel from east to west across Upper Canada, and then north. Along
the way, we glimpse the domestic lives of the early settlers, from
captains of industry and society ladies in Ottawa to humble farmers in
the agricultural hinterland. Aside from the obvious culinary angle,
Beeson’s history is engaging for its wealth of little-known facts.
Certainly, few Ontarians are aware of the long-standing existence of
pre-Civil War black communities in the southwest, the Kashoubs of the
near north area, the Finns around Thunder Bay, and the sizable Mennonite
settlement in the Markham area northeast of Toronto. Reproductions of
old photographs lend substance to the historical account.

Both an enlightening history book and a cookbook, Macdonald Was Late
for Dinner will fascinate aficionados of either discipline.