Sir John's Table
The Culinary Life and Times of Canada's First Prime Minister
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- $11.99
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- $11.99
Publisher Description
Winner, Taste Canada Gold Medal for Culinary Narrative
Commemorating the two-hundredth anniversary of Sir John A. Macdonald's birth, Sir John's Table is a refreshing look at Canada's first prime minister.
Sir John's Table traverses the colourful life of Macdonald, from his passage as a young Scottish boy in the steerage compartment aboard the Earl of Buckinghamshire to his new home in Kingston, Upper Canada. It traces his boyhood years of stealing fish and scarfing down fairy cakes into his adult life as a lawyer, husband, father, and eventual leader of the newly founded dominion of Canada. It was a journey that began with hardtack and suspicious-looking, watered-down stew amidst appallingly unsanitary conditions and culminated in grand dinners held in Macdonald's honour.
In a breezy and engaging style, author Lindy Mechefske traces Macdonald's life through some of the common foods of the day, from mutton, quince, and gooseberries to hare, cow heel, and ox cheek. Along the way, she reveals how to concoct the fried oysters served at the Charlottetown Conference and how a roast duck dinner saved the dominion.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Mechefske (A Taste of Wintergreen) succeeds in taking a fresh, fun, and novel approach to her biography of Sir John A. Macdonald, who's been extensively written about. The central theme is the food culture and traditions of the era, and his life events are viewed through this prism. Mechefske charts Macdonald's diet from his birth to his death, including typical Scottish gruel, meager rations on his ocean crossing, French Canadian cuisine, alcoholic beverages of all sorts, and diplomatic dinner parties. It's like a roadmap marked with various gastronomic stops. She includes authentic recipes from various historical sources such as Mrs. Beeton's Book of Household Management (1861) and The Cook Not Mad (1831). These recipes are unedited, and they often eschew modern cookbooks' typical measurements, gear, and oven temperatures. This book takes the premise of "you are what you eat" very seriously, suggesting Macdonald's life was shaped by how his body was fueled. Surprising and revealing anecdotes give a very real face to a Canadian icon, and images such as old photographs, paintings, letters, and ads enrich the reading experience. This is an all-encompassing look at the man behind the history, part expos of past culinary habits and part celebrity biography.
