M: When you were a child, how did you get your food?

E: The local butcher, and we had a garden, and we had chickens, so that’s about it.

M: How did you keep your food?

E: Well, there weren’t any fridges, when I was a child. We had a cold pantry, usually in the shade at the back of the house. It had long, sometimes marble slabs, and that’s where we kept milk, and fish, and everything.

M: How was getting food different when you were a kid?

E: Well, when I was a child, we were lucky to get food. It was just after the first world war, 1918, when I was born, it was what they called the Depression. Not a lot worse then what they have now, they call a recession. And then when I was about thirteen it was really bad so we had to grow as much of our food as possible, and use our chickens, and my father used to catch rabbits, I used to go with him to help catch the rabbits. I grew up in Durham, County Durham, on the North East coast of England, a coal mining town.

M: What is your favourite local food?

E: Fish.

M: Tell me about a food memory you have from childhood.

E: We always had a big pot of soup, or broth as we used to call it, hanging on a hook over the coal fireplace. A big bowl of soup with a big ladle in it, it was always there when we came home from school. And homemade bread. We didn’t know any different then. It was during the second world war that sliced bread came out. I remember that. But mostly home-made bread was what we had. My mother used to make about ten loaves at a time. We used to have a fender in front of the fireplace and I remember all the loaf tins when I came home from school, full of bread rising. And we used to have the coal oven. It was a round one. We didn’t have an electric stove when I was a child, that was mostly later on, when I was a teenager.

M: What seasonal foods do you eat?

E: Seasonal food, well, it depends on the season, in the summer there’s fruit, and berries, and in winter mostly vegetables, I like asparagus in the spring.

M: How do you overwinter your food?

E: Mostly by freezing.

M: How and where do you shop for food?

E: Locally, as much as possible. The market for fresh vegetables and fish and chicken.

M: Why did you choose your recipe for the cookbook?

E: Oh, parsnip and carrot soup is very nutritious, good for you. Easy to make. and the pineapple cake has no fat in it, it’s very moist and makes a nice big cake. I have Yorkshire puddings there because they remind me of family gatherings, we always have Yorkshire puddings, especially in England. And my granddaughter, whose name was Yarrah, she used to come to this school, and she and her father used to have a competition who could eat the most Yorkshire puddings. And she always won. She could eat about twelve at a time.

M: How did obtaining food change when you moved to Galiano?

E: Well, we shopped in the city, in Ontario,mostly in supermarkets. Here, we shop locally.

M: What foods make you think of spring and why?

E: Spring….mint, parsley, asparagus, lamb, mint sauce and lamb, parsley..and fish.

M: What foods make you think of summer?

E: Strawberries, fruit, making jam, blueberries,and freezing; preparing for the winter.

M: What foods make you think of fall, and why?

E: Pumpkin pie, root vegetable and soups, I make a lot of soups, and freeze them, too.

M: What foods make you think of winter, and why?

E: Turkey, Christmas pudding, pork and bean soup, mincemeat pie.