Food Memories

In this season’s final episode, we peel back the curtain on the Manitoba Food History Project to talk about memories and highlights as producer Kent Davies interviews co-authors Kimberley Moore and Janis Thiessen about their book, Mmm…Manitoba: The Stories Behind the Foods We Eat.

Everywhere you go, everyone has a food story. When the Manitoba Food History Project team were in Baltimore, Maryland for the Oral History Association conference, we interviewed people at the OHA Block Party about their favourite food memories. In one of our last episodes of the first season of Preserves, we share these stories.

The labour of food production isn’t always appreciated or understood. In this episode, VJ’s Drive-Inn owner John Calogeris and Bryanne Mysak reflect on skilled versus unskilled labour, and Emma Dubeski shares the history of the People’s Cooperative Association.

Clay vessels hold immense importance in Indigenous foodways due to their natural properties, cultural significance, and role in preserving culinary traditions. In this episode, artist and guest producer KC Adams (Ininnew/Anishinaabe/British) reveals the importance of pottery in Indigenous food history, showcasing deep connections between food, culture, and the environment.

Food is an important part of holiday traditions. Whether you gather with family and friends to celebrate Christmas, Hannukah, the changing of the seasons, or something else, holidays are a time to remember who we are and where we’ve come from. They’re also a time to think about our future and who we want to become.

‘Fish stories’ have always been synonymous with far-fetched tales, but sometimes in food history, those fish stories turn out to be true. In this episode, we explore the unlikely story of a small fish with a big culinary impact: goldeye. We also explore the importance of pickled herring in preserving cultural traditions.

Farming in Manitoba has a long and varied history, ranging from the agricultural practices of Indigenous people on this land over the millennia, to immigrant farm techniques, to the more recent (re)discovery of organic farming. Featuring interviews with a farmer-professor and a German Canadian grandma, this episode explores a few of these farm stories.

What is Kutia? And what does it have to do with the history of Ukraine? In this episode of Preserves, Allie Skwarchuck cooks Kutia with her grandparents, and learns about Ukrainian culture in the process.

Candy making was big business in mid-century Winnipeg, involving companies like Cavalier, Galpern’s, Paulin-Chambers and Scott-Bathgate. In this episode, we explore the history of this industry, including a unique Manitoba confection that’s still a favourite amongst folks on the prairies, the Cuban Lunch.

Traces of an earlier era of independent grocery stores dot the landscape of Winnipeg. Riediger’s Supermarket was one such store, catering to a Mennonite clientele in the North End since 1937. Their story reflects the changes in the retail grocery business in Manitoba over the last century.