Cook to Win

The “Good Cheer Club” of Wesley United Church [Calgary] - 1943

Another example of a wartime cookbook, Cook to Win was produced by the Good Cheer Club of Wesley United Church in Calgary. The cover shows a housewife focusing on key cooking goals, not unlike a military strategist. The foreword appeals to Prairie women’s resourcefulness, noting that “The pioneer spirit that is your Western inheritance will see your families well nourished and happy no matter what the future holds.” Encouraging wartime aphorisms, such as “Saving bones is a terrible chore, but better than the War at your door,” run along the bottom of the pages. Many of the recipes are “stretchers,” blending meat with breadcrumbs, potatoes, or other extenders, and some dessert recipes replace rationed butter with shortening, while others call for corn syrup or saccharin instead of sugar. Saccharin, first invented in the late nineteenth century but called into regular service as a household sweetener during the wars, was banned in Canada in 1977, after scientists discovered a link to bladder cancer (Canwest). Soyhart, also mentioned in this book, is a soy-based spread used as a substitute for peanut butter (“The Doctor’s Voice”). Cook to Win includes recipes from Princess Alice and Nellie McClung, as well as the wife of Conservative leader John Bracken.