350 recettes de cuisine par Mademoiselle Jeanne Anctil, directrice, Les Ėcoles Ménagères Provinciales
Montreal : Librairie Beachemin, 1924. 265p. (Driver Q73.1)
Jeanne Anctil (1875-1926), the author of 350 recettes de cuisine, was a teacher of household science and co-principal of the Ėcoles Ménagères Provinciales in Montreal from 1907. She had trained in Paris, and in Fribourg, Switzerland where she obtained a diploma in household science in 1906. The school was founded to offer public classes, and to train teachers of home economics as part of a movement to promote public health and to professionalize domestic work.
During World War I Jeanne Anctil gave weekly lectures in rural areas, and with other teachers spread instruction in cooking, sewing and hygiene throughout the province. Under her direction, the teaching of household science not only took root in Montreal, but spread to other parts of the province. She was the author of several articles on the teaching of household science. (See biography of Jeanne Anctil in Dictionary of Canadian Biography Online.)
Anctil claims in her introduction (translated): “Through this little book of culinary recipes a wife will reclaim her kingdom in the household, and a husband will recover his lost sense of humour. One will be surprised to learn that one can eat so well with little expense, and that it is quite easy to cultivate the palate without emptying the purse.
In this cookbook are found the classic recipes of Quebec cuisine, using local foods. An alphabetical list of the principal culinary terms is presented on pages 13 to17b. Numerous illustrations. Index p. 253-265.
The digitization of the cookbook has been sponsored by Amy Scott.