This Toronto food event takes a historic look at surviving Canadian winters

How did pioneering Canadians make it through winter without Netflix and abundant delivery?

This February, Hungry for Comfort, at Toronto’s historic Fort York will offer the opportunity for food enthusiasts . to take a historic look at “how different peoples survived and thrived in Canada’s bitter winter.”

The one-day event will spotlight “culinary stories of the First Nations, Metis, French and English, with speakers, demonstrations, workshops and tastings.”

Workshops include:

Traditional Indigenous Teas

Mark Sault, a “knowledge keeper from the Mississaugas of the New Credit First Nation”, explores how the Anishinaabe people survived winters past and focuses on “foraging and harvesting native foods, like wild rice, herbs, and nuts. Samples will be shared of traditional teas, made using local plants, including Labrador Tea, Cedar Tea, and Wintergreen Tea.”

Hungry for Apples

Partake in a blindfold taste test of Canadian, British and American mid-19th-century apple pie recipes led by Fiona Lucas, Culinary Historian and co-editor of Catharine Parr Traill’s The Female Emigrant’s Guide.

Maple Syrup Memories

Metis historical writer and filmmaker, Virginia Barter shares the recipe for her mother’s maple cream candy along with childhood memories from the sugar bush.

A Taste of Summer

Learn how to keep seasonal fruits all year long by making jams and marmalades using recipes from late 18th and early 19th century British and American cookbooks at his workshop led by Culinary Historian and Volunteer Historic Cook at Fort York N.H.S., Mya Sangster.

Chicken Soup with Barley and Herbs

Chantal Véchambre, author of French Taste in Atlantic Canada, 1604-1758, A Gastronomic History, demonstrates winter-time staples in 18th-century kitchens be exploring an all-time classic dish: Chicken Soup.

Give Us This Day Our Great War Bread

Explore and sample bread recipes from a century ago and learn to make “War Bread” as Canadians did when asked to conserve wheat during the First World War. The workshop will be led by Culinary Historian and Volunteer Historic Cook at Fort York N.H.S., Mark D’Aguilar.

In addition to the event line-up, the day will also feature a baking and preserving competition awarding prizes for Canada’s best marmalade.

Tickets, on sale now, include refreshments and lunch.

Hungry for Comfort: Surviving a Canadian Winter

When: February 24, 2018, 8:30 am to 3:30 pm
Where: Fort York National Historic Site, 250 Fort York Boulevard, Toronto
Price: $75 per workshop (early bird special, $65 before February 9)

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