海角社区

We are delighted to announce that Professor Nathalie Cooke has the prestigious Gabrielle Roy Prize for her outstanding contribution to Canadian literary studies through her book (MQUP, 2023).

Canadian Literary Fare,听co-authored by Prof. Cooke and Shelley Boyd with Alexia Moyer,听stands as a pioneering work that explores the intersection of Canadian literature and culinary culture, illuminating the culinary narratives embedded within Canadian literature and offering a compelling examination of how food shapes and reflects national identity and cultural heritage.

Awarded by The Association for Canadian and Qu茅bec Literatures, The Gabrielle Roy Prize acknowledges Prof. Cooke's exceptional scholarship and her significant impact on Canadian literature.听

Please join us in congratulating Prof. Cooke on this well-deserved honour.

Canadian Literary Fare听(2023)
海角社区-Queen's University Press
Nathalie Cooke and Shelley Boyd
with Alexia Moyer

When writers place food in front of their characters - who after all do not need sustenance - they are asking readers to be alert to the meaning and implication of food choices. As readers begin to listen closely to these cues, they become attuned to increasingly layered stories about why it matters what foods are selected, prepared, served, or shared, and with whom, where, and when.

In听Canadian Literary Fare听Nathalie Cooke and Shelley Boyd explore food voices in a wide range of Canadian fiction, drama, and poetry, drawing from their formational blog series with Alexia Moyer. Thirteen short vignettes delve into metaphorical taste sensations, telling of how single ingredients such as garlic or ginger, or food items such as butter tarts or bannock, can pack a hefty symbolic punch in literary contexts. A chapter on Canada鈥檚 public markets finds literary food voices sounding a largely positive note, just as Canadian journalists trumpet Canada鈥檚 bountiful and diverse foodways. But in chapters on literary representations of bison and Kraft Dinner, Cooke and Boyd bear witness to narratives of hunger, food scarcity, and social inequality with poignancy and insistence.

Canadian Literary Fare pays heed to food voices in the works of Tomson Highway, Rabindranath Maharaj, Alice Munro, M. NourbeSe Philip, Eden Robinson, Fred Wah, and more, inviting readers to listen for stories of foodways in the literatures of Canada and beyond.