OPINION: Grandmother’s Kitchen an important addition to local Mennonite women’s history

FLORADALE – Barb Draper and Eileen Freeman have written a book,  Grandmother’s Kitchen, about the culture of food in the Mennonite community from the 1920s and 1950s. 

It is a memoir of their own growing up Mennonite, and the influences their mothers had on their lives with food and faith. 

Draper’s mother was Selina Frey, and Freeman’s mother was Eloise Cressman. 

Draper is a historian, and writes about the culture of the food, the kitchen and the various kinds of food that were part of the Mennonite culture, putting the Mennonite food culture in its broader context of family, community and farming. 

Freeman is a retired professional dietitian and has included many recipes from her mother, Draper’s mother and her mother-in-law Irene Freeman. She tweaked some of the recipes and made sure the amounts were right, as many times the recipes did not have exact measurements. 

The women of the time period worked very hard to provide three meals a day for their families. They grew fruits and vegetables, and canned all kinds of things. They made their ingredients stretch as far as they could. They used wood stoves and summer kitchens to help preserve and cook the food. It was a hard but rewarding life.

Throughout the book, the authors are trying to find what is “Mennonite food.”  Sometimes Mennonites ate the same food as their neighbours.  They used some ideas from Pennsylvania, and also from broader society. And other times, they just prepared what was available –  read the book to find out about “shoofly pie.”

Recipes include cream potatoes and summer sausage, Mennonite liverwurst and bag sausage, bean salad and pickled corn, cook cheese, spring treats with maple syrup, caramel pudding, Mennonite dressing and apple butter and applesauce. 

Just writing them down makes my mouth water. My tradition is Russian Mennonite, so these are new to me – I have learned of these beautiful and tasty foods in the last 35 years. 

The most “Mennonite” dish seems to be Mennonite dressing.

In Mennonite culture  between the 1920s and 1950s,  the land, the community and the food were central to their lives. 

The women worked hard and thought creatively to keep the family fed during lean years. 

Although faith is not mentioned often in the book, the Mennonite faith was in everything that the community did and said.

Thank you, Barb and Eileen, for highlighting this women’s history within the Mennonite community. It is an important addition to telling the history of women in the Mennonite story.  

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Fred Redekop is pastor at Floradale Mennonite Church, where Draper and Freeman are longtime members.