A book of Manitoba food history straight out of the oven

The latest addition to the University of Winnipeg's bookshelves is something many readers will want to eat.

hmm…Manitoba: The stories behind the foods we eat Kimberly Moore and Janice Thiessen are available now from the University of Manitoba Press. A free excerpt is also available online.

Copies will also be available at the book launch event this Wednesday, April 17th at 7:00pm at the Manitoba Museum (190 Rupert Ave.). Moore and Thiessen will be on hand to read and sign.

One of our goals in the book and for the Manitoba Food History Project as a whole was to add to our understanding of what “food production” means.

Kimberly Moore and Janice Thiessen

ummm…Manitoba offers readers an irresistible mix of stories, recipes, maps, archival records, biographies and photographs that showcase the province's diverse food history. Chapters cover food safety and regulation, local foodways and agriculture, the impact of capitalism on the agri-food industry, and networks between food producers and retailers. The book also explores the roles of gender, ethnicity, migration and colonialism in Manitoba's food history.

Moore, adjunct professor and programming and collections specialist at UWinnipeg's Center for Oral History, and Thiessen Professor in the Department of History, traveled miles in a Manitoba food history truck to compile interviews and recipes. ummm…Manitoba.

The COVID-19 pandemic has allowed them to sift through the stories and recipes they've collected and compile them into a book that expands readers' perceptions of food in the Keystone Province.

“As a prairie province, there is a tendency to associate food history with agriculture and the perception of Manitoba as Canada's 'breadbasket,'” said Moore and Thiessen. “One of our goals in the book and for the Manitoba Food History Project as a whole was to add to our understanding of 'food production.' Thus, we explored food production in past and present local agricultural practices, households and communities, non-agricultural industries such as the restaurant industry, and cottage industries such as perogy making.

One of their guiding principles is “food has a social life.”

“Often what we like about certain foods and what they mean to us transcends our personal lives and preferences,” Moore and Thiessen said. “For example, the reason we love Fat Boys or feel nostalgia and comfort in restaurants like Kelekis' or Salisbury House is not just because we as individuals want to eat a certain food from a certain place. The elements of community, identity and belonging are found at the restaurant booths and with the perogies we buy from our local perogia ladies or at fundraisers.”

This book is one result of the SSHRC-funded Manitoba Food History Project, which aims to create a comprehensive history of food production, production, retailing and consumption in Manitoba from 1870 to the present.

QR codes embedded in the book connect readers to other aspects of the Manitoba Food History Project, the most visible aspect of which is the award-winning Manitoba Food History Truck, which hit the road in 2018.

Manitobans from across the province came out to a mobile research station to share archived family recipes, favorite foods, fond memories and personal stories at the Oral History Center, which provides insight into Manitoba's history. Many of them are podcasts, soundscapes, ArcGIS story maps, and more. made as

The trips left many memories for the authors. Moore recalled a 2019 rainstorm that forced him, Thiessen and teammate Kent Davis to take cover in the cab of a truck, only to discover the roof was leaking.

Thiessen recalled traveling to Churchill by train and noticing the important role the train played in the communities of northern Manitoba.

“I'll never forget my chagrin (and hunger) when I realized that regular travelers knew when to call Thompson's to order their pizza delivered by taxi to the train station,” he said. “The pizzas smelled so good when we went to Winnipeg!”