Favorite Recipes from Old Prince Edward Island Kitchens

Daria Yarymowich was a freelance writer in Toronto.

The biography on the back cover of this book informs us that “anyone acquainted with Julie Watson well knows that she has a passion for accumulating as much information as she can about topics that interest her.” This is much in evidence as the reader progresses through the results of the current accumulations.

Following a short information, we come to “A Brief Look at Island History,” some twenty pages in length. We learn who itwas that settled in Prince Edward Island, and what it was that their new environment provided for them to eat. A brief section entitled “What Was Around Back Then” includes a list of tinned goods available at the time. The information supplied in all of these sections has been gleaned from newspapers and books written early in this century. Excerpts from private correspondence also appear.

In the section entitled “General Kitchen Knowledge,” the author offers, in addition to standard information regarding weights and measures, turn-of-the-century household hints, cures and remedies.

An overwhelming array of recipes follows. These are often prefaced with remarks by the author and/or anecdotes pertaining either to the recipe, or to the food in question. They are presented “as is,” that is to say, there has been no attempt on the author’s part to alter or modify them to facilitate conformity to a specific approach to food preparation. The bulk of the recipes are variations on what is generally referred to as country cooking. All categories of foodstuffs are considered.

A half-dozen or so black-and-white photographs appear throughout the text. With the exception of one, these do not pertain directly to any of the recipes.

This book was an extremely ambitious undertaking. It is less than well executed. The surprisingly poor editing is chiefly to blame. The nonrecipe sections of the book are written in an uneven, rambling style. The author’s intended meaning is often unclear as a result. Errors in punctuation and in grammar are too numerous to ignore. Those who are not irritated by such things will applaud an otherwise decent effort, enthusiastically proffered.