During the Second World War, as Canada struggled to provide its allies with food, public health officials warned that malnutrition could derail the war effort. Posters admonished Canadians to "Eat Right" because "Canada Needs You Strong" while cookbooks helped housewives become "housoldiers" through food rationing, menu substitutions, and household production. Ian Mosby explores the symbolic and material transformations that food and eating underwent as the Canadian state took unprecedented steps into the kitchens of the nation, changing the way women cooked, what their families ate, and how people thought about food. Canadians, in turn, rallied around food and nutrition to articulate new visions of citizenship for a new peacetime social order.

Culinary Landmarks is a definitive history and bibliography of Canadian cookbooks from the beginning, when La cuisinière bourgeoise was published in Quebec City in 1825, to the mid-twentieth century. Over the course of more than ten years Elizabeth Driver researched every cookbook published within the borders of present-day Canada, whether a locally authored text or a Canadian edition of a foreign work. Every type of recipe collection is included, from trade publishers' bestsellers and advertising cookbooks, to home economics textbooks and fund-raisers from church women's groups. The entries for over 2,200 individual titles are arranged chronologically by their province or territory of publication, revealing cooking and dining customs in each part of the country over 125 years. Full bibliographical descriptions of first and subsequent editions are augmented by author biographies and corporate histories of the food producers and kitchen-equipment manufacturers, who often published the books. Driver's excellent general introduction sets out the evolution of the cookbook genre in Canada, while brief introductions for each province identify regional differences in developments and trends. Four indexes and a 'Chronology of Canadian Cookbook History' provide other points of access to the wealth of material in this impressive reference book.

The fourth estate.

From the 1930s to the 1950s, Kate Aitken was a role model for millions of Canadian women who listened to her national radio show, clipped her recipes from the Montreal Standard, where she was Women's Editor, and purchased her books and pamphlets on everything from cooking and childcare to travel and etiquette. Kate Aitken's Canadian Cook Book was first published in 1945 and became an instant bestseller. In Kate's own words, the book is "a handy, inexpensive guide to healthful daily living." Along with delicious recipes for appetizers, baked goods, canning, main dishes, salads, soups, and quick lunches and suppers, she provides a wealth of information on nutrition, "Notes to Brides", and helpful hints on cooking. Considered the "Martha Stewart" of her day, Kate Aitken's practical recipes endure to delight Canadian families today.