Gellatly Nut Farm If you live in the Okanagan, you are probably familiar with Gellatly Nut Farm Regional Park on Okanagan Lake in West Kelowna (Westbank). Fall is an ideal time to visit and you can harvest nuts that fall to the ground when they are ripe[i]. What you may not know is the Gellatly […]
Author Archive | M. Gale Smith
Woodward’s Food Floor
By M. Gale Smith on September 15, 2021 in Food Processing and Marketing, Innovations and Inventions Related to Food
Woodward’s Food Floor I recently reviewed Food Floor: My Woodward’s Days by Margaret Cadwaladr[i]. It’s a memoir of the author’s experiences, as a high school, then university student, working part time on Woodward’s Food Floor in Vancouver, in the late 1960s and early 70s. It is a little book (only 65 pages) of stories and […]
Hazelnuts
Hazelnuts When people who are trying to “eat local” or use various versions of regional diets ask “What to do about nuts?”, the most popular recommendation was hazelnuts up to a few years ago. Commercial Production Hazelnuts have been farmed in various parts of BC since at least the 1930s[i]. Commercial cultivation in the Pacific […]
The Nanaimo Bar
The Nanaimo Bar Who would have thought that Nanaimo Bars could be so controversial? We have always claimed Nanaimo Bars as a quintessential BC food mainly because of the name and the outstanding branding done by the city of Nanaimo on Vancouver Island. This famous recipe has been shrouded in mystery as no one has […]
What’s Making Food History – March 3, 2021
‘Buttergate’ debunked: No evidence butter is harder due to palm supplements for cows (theconversation.com) Stephen LeBlanc, Veterinary Population Medicine, University of Guelph professor, says “Based on the available evidence, it is improbable that feeding palm-based supplements has had appreciable effects on the properties of butter”
BestOVall Canning Company – Beans and All
BestOVall Canning Company – Beans and All The idea for this blog began with an intriguing label for BestOVall Canning Company, a BC canning company, and ends with a delicious homemade version of Pork and Beans. Food packages and container labels are highly perishable and many don’t survive. Yet each one has a story and […]
Buy Local – Buy BC
Buy Local – “Buy BC”, “Buy Canadian” In the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic, we are reminded by our provincial government to support local restaurants, farmers, and food producers, arguing that Buy BC is important for the economic and social well being of individuals and the country.[i] Additionally, the federal government, worried about consumers becoming […]
Food History Inquiry Pandemic Projects
Food History Inquiry Pandemic Projects The potential for using the study of food is often overlooked in education. Yet food is necessary to human survival and can be linked to just about every human activity or industry and almost all school subjects through food history inquiry pandemic projects. Online study has grown by necessity and […]
Halloween Tricks and Treats
Halloween Tricks and Treats There is a lot of discussion these days about whether or not Halloween will be celebrated in 2020. Worries about children missing out on the fun and candy makers fussing over lost profit makes one wonder about how this holiday evolved. Most accounts agree that what has become known as […]
Edith Adams
Edith Adams Edith Adams was a fictional name given to the food editor of women’s pages of the Vancouver Sun newspaper. “She” was responsible for the cooking/recipe/homemaking department from 1924 to 1999. You might wonder about the name “Edith Adams”. It was created by a male circulation manager because of the typographical advantage of having […]