Joining the promotion of Food Day Canada which is 31 July, here are the first couple of paragraphs from an Ancestry.ca press release.
CANADIANS EMBRACE HERITAGE THROUGH FOOD
New survey reveals 67% of Canadians feel family recipes bring them closer to their heritage and almost half are concerned family history will be lost if recipes aren’t passed down
TORONTO, ON. June 22, 2021 – Ahead of Food Day Canada, a new Leger Marketing[i] survey, conducted on behalf of Ancestry®, the global leader in family history, reveals that seven in ten Canadians state their most memorable family moments involve home-cooked meals and eating together. However, almost half (44%) of Canadians feel that part of their family history will be lost if family recipes are not passed down.
Food heritage is one of the first and most prominent traditions passed down from previous generations, with nearly three-quarters (72%) of Canadians saying that they first learned to cook at home with their parents or grandparents. In fact, according to the Ancestry survey, 67% still cook at least one recipe that has been passed down by another family member and 58% feel family recipes give insight into how their ancestors lived.
The press release continues with a story about Ancestry spokesperson Lesley Anderson, one of the best-known family historians in Canada, who credits her family First World War-era “Cookery Book” as the catalyst for her foray into the world of family history.
It includes this image from the book — quantities given by weight the British way. I’m imagining Lesley preparing these in her newly renovated kitchen.
My own hand-written cheese scone recipe, a family favourite I copied from my mother’s dictation, substitutes cheese for the sugar and currants, reduces the butter and leaves out the egg. It may be her Second World War rationing-era recipe had to skimp on the ingrediants.
I have a photo of my father and his brother making sauerkraut. Likely in the 1980’s or 1990’s. They were recalling their childhood days in the 1930’s. I even have the equipment in my basement. Perhaps this came from having Palatine German ancestors who arrived in New York state in 1710. My Mom and I made fruitcake for Xmas using my Irish grandmother’s recipe.