United Farm Women of Manitoba Cook Book

United Farm Women of Manitoba Cook Book

This volume demonstrates how cookbooks can provide insights into other cultural circumstances. In this case, the full-page advertisement for the telephone demonstrates the early incentives behind rural telephone installation; another advertisement promoted pumps that could turn well water into running water in the home. With regard to the recipes, most have only minimal instructions, a reminder that basic ingredient lists were more important than detailed directions when, for example, every stove was different. Folk measuring systems also hung on, particularly for butter, the firm texture of which made it most logical to dispense with cups and instead use analogies like “the size of an egg.” Perhaps unsurprisingly, this book was modeled after the United Farm Women of Alberta’s cookbook, published in 1928. The UFWM, however, was founded first: the Manitoba Grain Growers’ Association allowed females as associate members in 1912 (Goldsborough). They officially became the United Farm Women of Manitoba in 1918 (Bumstead 268). The owner of this copy also inserted advertising recipes—featuring in this case Nutty Club Gum Drops and Baker’s Chocolate—which she fastened to the book with a pin, a clever alternative to today’s staples.

United Farm Women of Manitoba

1929