Upcoming Events 2024 – 2025
Sunday, February 9, 2025
757 Victoria Park Avenue (Toronto)
Victorian Cake Decorating Workshop
CHC members and bakers extraordinaire Sherry Murphy and Monika Paradis will lead a hands-on cake-decorating workshop. (Shown above is a traditional Twelfth Cake decorated by Monika Paradis and displayed at Montgomery’s Inn in Etobicoke, Ontario.) Details and registration link to come later.
Sunday, January 5, 2 to 3:30 p.m. EST
Virtual via Zoom
Dining Out with History at Atlantic Canada’s Historic Sites
Author Jan Feduck will share stories of food and history from her Taste Canada Gold-winning book Dining Out with History at Atlantic Canada’s Historic Sites as she offers a virtual tour through a selection of historic sites in Atlantic Canada, including the Fortress of Louisbourg, L’Anse aux Meadows and more. Admission: $27.96 (general). $23.70 (Culinary Tourism Alliance members). $17.31 (CHC members). Tickets are available on Eventbrite.
Tuesday, December 31, 2 to 6 p.m. EST
Infinity Convention Centre (2901 Gibford Drive, Ottawa)
Hogman-eh!
CHC closes out our 30th-anniversary year with a visit to the Scottish Society of Ottawa’s traditional New Year’s Eve festival. Our exhibit on the influence of Scottish cooking on Canadian cuisine will be just a small part of an evening that includes family activities, Celtic music, whiskey tasting and Auld Lang Syne.
Recent Past Events
Saturday, November 9
Campbell House Museum, 160 Queen Street West (Toronto)
Baking for the Victorian Christmas Table
A hands-on early Victorian cooking class that will lead participants through the preparation of authentic historic recipes in a historic kitchen using authentic equipment and techniques beside the hearth fire. Samples to take home, tea, snacks and a tour of the house are included. Admission details TBA
Saturday, October 5, 2024, 2 to 4 p.m. EST
757 Victoria Park Avenue (Toronto & Zoom)
CHC Annual General Meeting
All members in good standing are eligible to attend and vote at the CHC AGM. This year, we have special plans for the AGM, including our first hybrid meeting (with the first live component since 2019).
Saturday, September 21
University of Guelph (Guelph, Ontario)
Cooking Up History: 30 Years of the Culinary Historians of Canada
A culinary history-themed visit to the University of Guelph Library and Archives that includes a tour of an exhibit that commemorates CHC’s 30th anniversary and celebrates the recipients of the Taste Canada Hall of Fame awards, which the Culinary Historians sponsor. The exhibit consists of cookbooks written by the thirty-five food writers, historians, chefs, and television personalities who have been honoured by the Hall of the Fame, including Catharine Parr Traill, Edna Staebler, Jean Paré, and Anita Stewart. Admission details TBA
Sunday, August 25, 10 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. EDT
Dundurn Castle, 610 York Boulevard (Hamilton, Ontario)
Accessible from Toronto via GO Transit
MacNab’s Kitchen Workshop and Garden Tour
Dundurn Castle is a 40-room villa built in the 1830s as a home for the family of railway magnate, lawyer and Premier of the United Canadas Sir Allan Napier MacNab. Today it is recognized as a National Historic Site.
Assisted by Dundurn’s Cook Demonstrators, participants will work together to make a traditional recipe in the historic kitchen. Recipes will be seasonal options that can come from the garden; some common recipes have been salads, tarts, turnovers, fritters, and rissoles.
Everyone will receive a recipe booklet to keep that they will use to follow and cook from.
Following the workshop and after a short break participants will explore the lovingly restored Historic Kitchen Garden where costumed staff grow over 200 heirloom varieties of fruits, vegetables, herbs, and flowers for use in the historic kitchen. Visitors will also have the opportunity to explore with costumed staff over 40 rooms and discover the history of the MacNab family and the servants who lived and worked below stairs.
Admission: $89.27 (general). $76.07 (Culinary Tourism Alliance members). $68.57 (CHC members). Tickets are available on Eventbrite.
Saturday 4 May, noon to 4 p.m. (Toronto)
Huge Sale of Cookbooks and Food History Books
Ralph Thornton Community Centre, second floor (accessible)
765 Queen Street East, two blocks east of Broadview Avenue in Toronto.
Limited street parking. Green P parking lot 045 at 111 Broadview Avenue.
Historical baked treats are available for purchase too at this 30th-anniversary fundraiser for the Culinary Historians of Canada. Admission: Free. For more information, visit our Facebook page!
Sunday, April 14, 1 p.m. (Zoom)
114 Years of Jollof Rice: From Senegal to Nigeria to Canada – postponed until further notice
An exciting look at an African classic with Nigerian food explorer, culinary anthropologist and food historian. Ozoz Sokoh of Kitchen Butterfly. Ozoz is a professor of Food and Tourism studies at Centennial College. Her research and documentation explore the roots of Nigerian and West African cuisine, the impact of West African intellectual contributions to global development from the American South through the Caribbean to Europe and Latin America, and the connection to the Afro-diaspora.
Her ongoing project “Coast to Coast: From West Africa to the World” traces the histories and edible trails of West Africa and its diaspora. She has spoken at TEDx and at conferences hosted by the Culinary Institute of America. Her work has been featured in Smithsonian magazine, Gastro Obscura, CNN African Voices and Anthony Bourdain’s Parts Unknown. Admission: $20+$1.99 ticketing fee (general); $17+$1.89 ticketing fee (Culinary Tourism Alliance members); $10+$1.64 ticketing fee (CHC members).
Tuesday, April 2, 2024 (Guelph, Ontario & virtual)
Cooking Up History: 30 Years of the Culinary Historians of Canada — Exhibit Launch with U of Guelph
In honour of the CHC’s 30th anniversary in 2024, special events are being prepared through a collaboration with the Archival & Special Collections of the University of Guelph.
Under the guidance of professor Rebecca Beausaert and archivist Melissa McAfee, two groups of students are studying Canadian historical cookbooks and presenting their analysis to the public through writing and installing a short-term physical exhibit in the archives and adding a digital exhibit to U of G’s What Canada Ate website, which already holds several exhibits on historical cookbooks created by earlier students.
These new complementary exhibits will celebrate the 33 cookbook authors currently inducted into our Taste Canada Hall of Fame, featuring some of the authors’ cornerstone books and including oral histories with living authors. Most excitingly, these exhibits will also celebrate the Culinary Historians of Canada, which sponsors the annual Hall of Fame. They will launch live at the U of G’s McLaughlin Library exhibit room, as well as virtually, with special appearances by chef Jamie Kennedy and CHC cofounder Fiona Lucas. Online registration is still open!
Sunday, November 12, 1 to 2:30 p.m. ET (virtual)
Where We Ate: A Canadian Restaurant Love Letter
CHC is pleased to present critic and journalist Gabby Peyton discussing her debut book Where We Ate: A Field Guide to Canada’s Restaurants, Past and Present, a love letter to 150 Canadian restaurants and the stories and people behind them—from pre-Confederation to present day, from Victoria to St. John’s. Gabby will talk not only about the history of Canadian restaurants, but also about immigration, cultural movements and the origin stories of Canada’s most iconic dishes (donair, poutine, Ginger Beef, California rolls and Hawaiian Pizza, just to name a few.).
Where We Ate is part history book, part restaurant bucket-list guide, and part cookbook—a cross-section of the mom-and-pop shops, high-end dining establishments and local favourites that make up Canada’s amazing dining scene. Gabby’s talk on the book and the restaurants will be illustrated with photos and menus from archival collections, as well as some recipes inspired or contributed by featured restaurants, some of which are still operating. A question-and-answer session will follow.
Gabby Peyton is a food writer based in St. John’s, Newfoundland and Labrador, who is obsessed with cheese, historical fiction and planning her next trip—to eat. She is a trained art historian (she has an MA from the University of Toronto and spent three summers working on an archeological dig in central Turkey) with a degree from the University of King’s College. Her food-writing career began with her blog The Food Girl in Town in 2012, and she has been writing about food ever since for such outlets as The Telegram, enRoute, Chatelaine, the CBC and Eater.
Admission: $10 (general); $8.50 (Culinary Tourism Association members); $5 (CHC Members). Pay As You May tickets are also available. Tickets are available via Eventbrite.
Sunday, November 5, 3 to 4:30 p.m. ET (virtual)
William Morris Cakes Event: CHC Member Discount
CHC is pleased to announce that we’ve entered into a partnership with the Canadian Society of Decorative Arts that will allow members of the two organizations to enjoy a discount to some of each others’ events. Upcoming is the William Morris Society Cakes event coming up on November 5, part of CSDA Sundays: The Expert Series. CHC full members in good standing will be able to attend free of charge.
For 14 years, Laura Bright and Gianna Wichelow have created cakes in celebration of William Morris, the great British designer and socialist. The cakes were created to celebrate his birthday each spring at a lecture hosted by the William Morris Society of Canada. On Sunday, November 5, from 3 to 4:30 p.m. EST, they will share techniques and inspiration for their sweet tribute to the British design legend in an illustrated, online presentation.
Admission: $10 (general); free of charge for CHC members with the promo code CULHIS2023, CSDA & William Morris Society of Canada members. If you’d like to become a CSDA member, you can purchase a discounted annual membership and attend the event for free. Tickets and memberships are available on Eventbrite.
Monday, October 30, 5:30 to 10 p.m. ET, Fairmont Royal York Hotel (Toronto)
Taste Canada Awards Gala
The 2023 Taste Canada Awards, the biggest night in Canadian cookbooks, will be an intimate evening with great food and terrific company, as Canada’s top cookbook authors, bloggers and influencers, publishers, producers, chefs and restauranteurs, media and cookbook fans, gather to celebrate Canadian culinary writing.
Canadian comic Ali Hassan (host of Laugh Out Loud on CBC Radio) will host the evening and reveal which cookbooks will take home the Gold and Silver awards. And of course, CHC will reveal this year’s inductees into the Taste Canada Hall of Fame.
Admission: $118.48. Tickets are available on Eventbrite.
Sunday, October 15, 2023, 2 to 4 p.m. ET (virtual)
CHC Annual General Meeting
All members in good standing will receive an invitation to attend via Zoom. To join or renew, simply visit the membership page on our website. If you are not certain whether your membership is still up to date, check in with our membership chair, Judy, at membership@culinaryhistorians.ca.
We are actively seeking new board members, and hoping to fill the positions of president, treasurer, co-chair of communications, PR co-ordinator and members-at-large. Interested parties can find out more at info@culinaryhistorians.ca.
AGM Documents
- Agenda
- Draft minutes of the CHC AGM of 2022
- Board reports (including Treasurer’s Report)
To submit your name for one of the executive positions (president or treasurer), please download and submit a nomination form.
If you will be unable to attend, you may choose another member to vote in your place by downloading and submitting a proxy form.
Further information will be posted here soon.
Sunday, September 17
1 to 3 p.m. EDT (virtual) & 10:30 a.m. to 1 p.m. MDT (in person)/
Tour of Heritage Park Historical Village (Calgary)
CHC presents a foodways tour of one of Western Canada’s oldest and largest living-history museums, Heritage Park Historical Village (1900 Heritage Drive SW, Calgary). Led by Chief Curator and CHC Vice-President Kesia Kvill, our tour will make stops at a prospector’s tent, rectory, Métis farm, fur-trading fort and Chinese café. Knowledgeable interpreters and cooks will meet us at each site to share the engaging history of Western Canadian foodways from local Indigenous groups through to the settlement boom of the 1910s.
Admission: Free (CHC members), $10 (non-members), $8.50 (members of the Culinary Tourism Alliance. In-person attendees must register by Friday, September 15, at 10 a.m. MDT. (Park admission is waived for CHC members and registered attendees.) Live attendees should meet Kesia at the Engineered Air Gazebo in Heritage Park’s Plaza at 10:30 a.m.. Email vp@culinaryhistorians.ca with any questions.
To attend, visit this link for the in-person version of the event, or click here to register for the virtual tour.
Saturday, August 5, 12:30 to 4 p.m
20th Food Day Canada
In celebration of the 20th Food Day Canada, CHC is sponsoring a demonstration of historic Canadian cooking at Campbell House Museum in Toronto. Members Sherry Murphy, Mya Sangster, Pat Currie and Tess Sciberras will demonstrate recipes from such famous Canadians as Catharine Parr Traill to tickle our Canadian tastebuds. Entrance to the museum is $10 (adults) or $6 (seniors), and includes a tour.
Sunday, June 11
From Figgy Duff to Loblolly: History of the Newfoundland & Labrador Table
Author Jennifer Leigh Hill will discuss her book The Foods of Newfoundland and Labrador: Tracing the History of the Province’s Cookery, which looks at the history of how some of the various dishes that are typically served in both homes and restaurants around the province have evolved, and continue to evolve, from the 1600s to the present.
It examines food that can be traced back to the early settlers: the English, Irish, Scottish, French, Spanish, Portuguese and Basque, and recipes that are representative of each group are presented. Examples include Figgy Duff (England), Boxty (Ireland), Scotch Eggs (Scotland), Croquettes (France), Sardinhas Asadas (Spain), Char-Grilled Octopus (Basque), and Egg Tarts (Portugal).
Tickets for CHC members are free; non-members pay $8.50. Both members and non-members may choose a “pay as you may” option to donate the amount of their choice.
Sunday, April 23, at 1 p.m. EDT (virtual)
Elizabeth Raffald, England’s Most Influential Housekeeper
Neil Buttery will talk about his new book Before Mrs. Beeton: Elizabeth Raffald, England’s Most Influential Housekeeper. Mrs. Raffald first published her own highly successful book The Experienced English Housekeeper in 1769. Not content with book publishing, she also set up a cookery school and ran a high-class tavern attracting both gentry and nobility, gave birth (reputedly) to 16 daughters, wrote a book on midwifery and was an effective exorcist of evil spirits. Dr. Buttery has lots of information to share about this remarkable woman and her tumultuous life. Admission is $10.09 (free for CHC members).