Book Review: James Daschuk’s much-heralded Clearing the Plains is an intricate and well-crafted examination of the historical role of food and disease in the life of First Nations of Western Canada. In a strong first chapter, Daschuk dispenses notions that indigenous sickness and starvation were “new” while gesturing to food security and political autonomy as reasons why these communities flourished for centuries before European contact.
For thousands of 20th-century brides, the Canadian Cook Book, the country’s first mass-produced book of recipes, unlocked the mysteries of domestic science.
