Nothing More Comforting: Canada's Heritage Food.

Janet Arnett is the former campus manager of adult education at Ontario’s Georgian College. She is the author of Antiques and Collectibles: Starting Small, The Grange at Knock, and 673 Ways to Save Money.

Duncan takes two of Canada’s favourite subjects—food and heritage—and blends them into a series of short essays suitable for random browsing.

There are 33 essays, originally published as columns in Century Home magazine. Each concentrates on a single food, giving a few lines about its history before arrival in Canada, its use by Aboriginals and/or settlers, and a few recipes. Early cookbooks are quoted extensively. The text contains a sprinkling of miscellaneous food-related facts, superstitions, folklore, and the use of foodstuffs in medicines.

For each food, Duncan includes recipes adapted for use today. There are recipes for classics from the pioneer era, such as cherry pie, pickled beets, cabbage rolls, fried tomatoes, and Indian pudding. Other recipes are regional specialties such as Solomon gundy, Saskatoon berry pie, blueberry grunt, borscht, potato pie, and sauerkraut. The selection reflects all regions of Canada and our multicultural heritage.

Duncan is a well-established historian of the Victorian and settlement era in Canada. Her writings are read for content, not for her style, which, unfortunately, is often plodding and unimaginative. Nonetheless, the collection of essays will be valued by armchair cooks with a fondness for basic produce and cooking with a nod to our past.