Food That Really Schmecks

Edna Staebler

Dec 2006 · Wilfrid Laurier Univ. Press

About this ebook

An iPad version of Food That Really Schmecks is now available. New material in the app includes photos and videos of Edna Staebler and the Waterloo Region countryside. Recipes are easily searchable, and users can upload photos and recipe comments and suggestions that will be shared to all users, just like your grandma’s scribbles in the margins of the family cookbook.

Enjoy the convenience of traditional recipes through mobile technology. You can easily search recipes and ingredients; add notes and commments to recipes, photos, and stories; upload your own pictures to the recipes; take a virtual tour of Waterloo Region; and watch video tributes to Edna Staebler.

The app is available free for a limited time on iTunes.

ABOUT THE BOOK
In the 1960s, Edna Staebler moved in with an Old Order Mennonite family to absorb their oral history and learn about Mennonite culture and cooking. From this fieldwork came the cookbook Food That Really Schmecks. Originally published in 1968, Schmecks instantly became a classic, selling tens of thousands of copies. Interspersed with practical and memorable recipes are Staebler’s stories and anecdotes about cooking, Mennonites, her family, and Waterloo Region. Described by Edith Fowke as folklore literature, Staebler’s cookbooks have earned her national acclaim.

Including this long-anticipated reprint of Food That Really Schmecks in our Life Writing series recognizes the cultural value of its narratives, positing it as a groundbreaking book in the food writing genre. This edition includes a foreword by award-winning author Wayson Choy and a new introduction by the well-known food writer Rose Murray.

Ratings and reviews

I started using this cookbook 30 years ago when my kids were little. I think I used this cookbook more than all others put together. Today, it's so covered in splatters and burns that for several of the recipes I have had my dad photocopy them from his copy and taped them over the ones we couldn't read anymore. We still remember all the fantastic food that this little book provided and I just pulled it out once again for some awesome date squares. You will never lose weight with these recipes but you will have a happy family and everyone will go to bed with full tummies and happy memories.

I've been using Edna' recipes for well over 30 years. I have them all in hardcover and paperback and now digitally. It really is good food and comfort food but it's her story telling is just wonderful. YAY!

My go to book for simple meals done well. The baking section has some of the best cakes and cookies to make at home.

About the author

Edna Staebler who recently passed away in her 101st year was an award-winning journalist and a regular contributor to Maclean’s, Chatelaine, and many other magazines. She is the author of Cape Breton Harbour, Places I’ve Been and People I’ve Known and the Schmecks cookbook series. Must Write: Edna Staebler’s Diaries, edited by Christl Verduyn, was published by Laurier Press in 2005.