Holiday gift ideas for local food, wine and book lovers
Christmas shopping has begun and what makes a better gift than a book?
For me, nothing replaces the feel of a book in hand, fresh pages to turn and spines to line up on a shelf...sigh. I am also especially fond of cookbooks and am so pleased that much of the food loving universe still loves a real book to prop up.
Remember to please shop for your books at local, independently owned bookstores. Here are a few fabulous book ideas for you to consider:
1. For the Indigenous Cookbook Lover: tawâw: Progressive Indigenous Cuisine
This beautiful, hardcover cookbook just came out and has already won a World Gourmand Cookbook Award. More than recipes featuring our country’s indigenous cuisine, the book, co-written by Jennifer Cockrall-King, traces the story of inspired Chef Shane Chartrand’s culinary journey from his childhood in Alberta to present day fame. Through the pages of this memoir cookbook, you will follow Shane's life and career beginning from where he learned to raise livestock, hunt, and fish on his family’s acreage, to the present time as a celebrated executive chef at the acclaimed SC Restaurant in the River Cree Resort & Casino in Enoch, Alberta. This is an absolute must for all foodies and cookbook fans.
2. For the Wine Lover: Valleys of Wine - A Taste of British Columbia's Wine History
Local Okanagan wine writer Luke Whittall’s new Valleys of Wine provides an extraordinarily in-depth history of our amazing B.C. wine history. Up-to-date with information that every B.C. wine locavore should know, through these pages, you will meet the passionate, visionary pioneers of our celebrated B.C. wine industry and learn of their trials and tribulations as they built this industry from the ground up. Pair this book with a bottle of B.C. wine to toast these pioneers with and you have a perfect gift.
3. For the Locavorian Cookbook Lover: Burdock & Co: Poetic Recipes Inspired by Ocean, Land & Air
Chef Andrea Carlson’s Burdock &. Co. restaurant in Vancouver is beloved. Carlson’s passion and focus on creating locally sourced cuisine is heart driven. Within the pages of this gorgeous book she provides an intimate lens into the Pacific Northwest's coastlines, islands, farms, and forests through her seasonal recipes and menus. This cookbook is a celebration of the bounty we are blessed with in British Columbia, and her unique thread of literary narrative throughout the pages provides a deeper perspective on her thoughtful cooking creative process.
4. For the Canadiana History Cookbook Lover: Out of Old Ontario Kitchens
Author Lindy Mechefske has created a unique portal into the origins of our food culture and the community of immigrants that pioneered in Eastern Canada. It is a food history book that is wonderfully accented with wonderful culinary stories, adventures and photographs of original recipe cards, letters, advertisements and of the pioneering women of the era. With mock stains on the cover and all, it feels more like a well loved scrapbook. This book also celebrates the unbelievable strength, ingenuity and survival instincts set into our female pioneers who scrounged and experimented and worked tirelessly to feed their families and communities allowing them to build a new life in the new world. It was also a winner at this year's Taste Canada Awards.
5. For the Recent Retiree: Winter in the City of Light: A Search For Self in Retirement
Local writer Sue Harper, a recent retiree, shares her inspiring memoir of life after retirement. Her journey includes moving to Paris where she uncovers herself and the next chapter in her life. As she begins tackling the past and reckoning with the future, she uncovers unique connections and stories from the past that are woven throughout, including ghosts. "But slowly, as she mapped out her walks through cobblestoned neighbourhoods, city cemeteries and halls of ancient Greek vases in the vast Louvre museum, she found her way back to herself" and the Okanagan.
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