Cedar + Salt: Vancouver Island Recipes from Forest, Farm, Field, and Sea by D.L. Acken and Emily Lycopolus Victoria: Touchwood, 2019 $45.00 / 9781771512947 Reviewed by Harvey De Roo * On March 12, 2020, Cedar + Salt: Vancouver Island Recipes from Forest, Farm, Field, and Sea, by D.L. Acken and Emily Lycopolus, was one of five…
Read more #668 Eating local on Vancouver Island
Extraordinary Ornamental Edibles: 100 Perennials, Trees, Shrubs and Vines for Canadian Gardens by Mike Lascelle Madeira Park: Douglas & McIntyre 2018 $24.95 / 9781771621793 Reviewed by Grahame Ware * This is quite the book — or guide, as the publishers like to refer to it. The author, Mike Lascelle, is currently a nursery manager at…
Read more #597 Lascelle’s ordinary & exotic food
Chop Suey Nation: The Legion Cafe and Other Stories from Canada’s Chinese Restaurants by Ann Hui Madeira Park: Douglas & McIntyre, 2019 $24.95 / 9781771622226 Reviewed by Imogene Lim * In March 2019, B.C. Bestseller Chop Suey Nation, by Ann Hui, was awarded the 2019 Dr. Edgar Wickberg Book Prize by the Chinese Canadian Historical…
Read more #592 Ginger beef and fried macaroni
One-Pot Wonders: James Barber’s Recipes for Land and Sea by James Barber Madeira Park: Harbour Publishing, 2019 (first published 2006) $14.95 / 9781550178715 Reviewed by Derek von Essen * There are few Canadian chefs I could name off the top of my head. In fact, there are only two: the Galloping Gourmet, whose real name…
Read more #581 Cookbook for a dystopian future
Little Island Bake Shop: The Heirloom Recipes Made for Sharing by Jana Roerick Vancouver: Figure 1, 2019 $34.99 / 9781773270630 Reviewed by Harvey De Roo * A wonderful thing about human beings is the variety of their passions. There’s a place for all interests, with hundreds of occupations out there, all filled, because someone somewhere…
Read more #564 Going sweet on Salt Spring Island
The Co-op Revolution: Vancouver’s Search For Food Alternatives by Jan DeGrass, with a foreword by Rick Scott Halfmoon Bay: Caitlin Press, 2019 $24.95 / 9781987915952 * Grocery Story: The Promise of Food Co-ops in the Age of Grocery Giants by Jon Steinman Gabriola: New Society Publishers, 2019 $19.99 / 9780865719071 * Both books reviewed by…
Read more #563 B.C.’s community food co-ops
First published April 30, 2019. The Co-op Revolution: Vancouver’s Search For Food Alternatives by Jan DeGrass, with a foreword by Rick Scott Halfmoon Bay: Caitlin Press, 2019 $24.95 / 9781987915952 Grocery Story: The Promise of Food Co-ops in the Age of Grocery Giants by Jon Steinman Gabriola: New Society Publishers, 2019 $19.99 / 9780865719071…
Read more #541 Co-opting the food chain
MEMOIR: My Private Italy by Grahame Ware * We are delighted to present “My Private Italy,” the second instalment of Grahame Ware’s social history memoir, a larger project with the working title In the Moonshadows of My iMac. The first instalment, “My Private Chinatown,” was published in the Ormsby Review #501 (March 08th, 2019). In “My Private…
Read more #530 My private Italy
MEMOIR: My Private Chinatown by Grahame Ware * The literature of remembrance turns the lost world of objects into emblems of a bygone culture. What is lost can be repossessed through memory and writing, for it is in the vagaries of consciousness in retracing lost dreams that possession can best be established. Writing about memories…
Read more #501 My Private Chinatown
Small Cities, Big Issues: Reconceiving Community in a Neoliberal Era by Christopher Walmsley and Terry Kading (editors) Edmonton: Athabasca University Press, 2018 $37.95 / 9781771991636 Free pdf available here. * No Straight Lines: Local Leadership and the Path From Government to Governance in Small Cities by Terry Kading (editor) Calgary: University of Calgary Press, 2018…
Read more #473 Small cities take centre stage
Awesome Ancient Grains and Seeds: A Garden-to-Kitchen Guide. Includes 50 Vegetarian Recipes by Dan Jason and Michele Genest Madeira Park: Douglas & McIntyre, 2018 $24.95 / 9781771621779 Reviewed by Grahame Ware * It’s always hard to review a publication whose identity and structure has a turbid editorial focus. There are many literate types who would…
Read more #443 Grains of yore to the fore
Freshly Picked: A Locavore’s Love Affair with BC’s Bounty by Jane Reid Halfmoon Bay: Caitlin Books, 2018 $26.00 / 9781987915792 Reviewed by Claire Mulligan First published Dec. 1, 2018 * Now that I have savoured the lustrous pages of Jane Reid’s warm-hearted and witty book Freshly Picked, A Locavore’s Love Affair with BC’s Bounty, I…
Read more #436 Calling all locavores
Amber River: A Guide to Unique Pubs of Vancouver Island and the Salish Sea by Glen Cowley Surrey: Hancock House, 2018 $24.95 / 9780888390752 Reviewed by Ian J.M. Kennedy * I couldn’t wait to get my hands on a copy of Amber River: A Guide to Unique Pubs of Vancouver Island and the Salish Sea…
Read more #389 A porous potpourri of 85 pubs
Sustenance: Writers from BC and Beyond on the Subject of Food by Rachel Rose (editor) Vancouver: Anvil Press, 2017 $25.00 / 9781772141016 Reviewed by Alan Belk First published June 26, 2018 * It would be easy to review Sustenance as a representative of the literary genre Coffee Table: a beautifully illustrated collection of short pieces…
Read more #330 Rachel’s food for thought
First published Dec. 20, 2017. REVIEW: Sustenance: Writers from BC and Beyond on the Subject of Food Edited and with a Foreword by Rachel Rose Anvil Press, 2017 978-1-77214-101-6 $25 Review by Caroline Woodward * As Poet Laureate for the City of Vancouver from 2014-2017, Rachel Rose wanted a community project which offered another world…
Read more #225 Food & community in Vancouver