Fit to Eat: Wholesome, Nutritious, and Economical Recipes for Active People

Robin V.H. Bellamy was an editor and bibliographer in Vancouver.

Ann Budge is an active member of the Canadian Orienteering Federation, the organization for which the first edition of Fit to Eat was a fundraiser. (Useful descriptions of orienteering and its history in Canada are provided in the introductory pages.) The recipes for both editions were collected from the kitchens of the author and other Federation members across the country; this has enabled the book to retain a pleasantly personal quality despite the very professional appearance of Hurtig’s new edition.

The dishes in Fit to Eat are generally economical, easy to make, family oriented, and moderately nutritious. Few prepared foods are used (although chocolate chips are an obvious favourite). Fats (mostly vegetable) and sugar are kept to fairly reasonable quantities considering the high levels of physical activity of orienteers — which also partially justifies the heavy reliance on high-calorie, high-fat dairy products and nuts in the meatless entrees in particular.

There are quite a few differences between the 1983 and 1986 editions. Many recipes have been dropped and new ones added, with an overall increase of 50. There are now more salads, vegetable dishes, and desserts, and fewer muffins and “trail foods.” Gone are the jello salads, and cookies “enriched” not only by shortening and chocolate but potato chips or deep-fried noodles as well! Commendably, salt has been significantly reduced in most recipes by half the amounts originally called for. And access to the recipes has been improved by further organization of dishes according to content on cooking method, and by the expansion of both the table of contents and the index.

The first version of Fit to Eat sold out almost immediately; this attractive, larger (and larger print) one is bound to be popular too.