In 2024, Archival & Special Collections was honoured to receive the donated fonds of the Culinary Historians of Canada (CHC), formerly the Culinary Historians of Ontario (CHO). In archival repositories, a “fonds” refers to a collection of materials produced by a person or organisation as a result of their work over a period of time. The CHC fonds contain a wide variety of archival material including textual, visual, audio/video, ephemera, etc. related to their administration, planning, and programming. Researchers can gain a deeper and more nuanced understanding of the CHC by examining this collection, which is publicly available upon request with an accompanying finding aid from Archival & Special Collections. 

From their humble beginnings as a provincial organisation, the CHC has evolved into the broad national organisation it is today, striving to educate and engage members of the public with their newsletter, partnerships, and events that encompass a wide range of topics and audiences, all of which is documented within the complete fonds. 

Since 2014, the CHC has partnered with Taste Canada to sponsor their Hall of Fame awards, which honours culinary writers who have made significant contributions to Canadian cuisine. The other cases in the exhibit gallery and the hallway shelves outside the Whitelaw Rooms focus on the winners of this award. 

This case provides a “tasting menu” of sorts, showcasing significant aspects of the CHC’s history over the past thirty years. 

(Displayed roughly left to right): CHO business cards (front and back); photographs of first official meeting (1994); CHO membership brochure; poster for first major program, “From Rations to Riesling” (1995); DVD of Rose Murray discussing Edna Staebler (2019); first newsletter (untitled, 1994); promotional event materials for: “Recipe for Victory” (2019) and “Mad for Marmalade, Crazy for Citron!” (2008); first titled newsletter (Culinary Chronicles, 2004), and CHC membership advertisement postcard. 

Culinary Historians of Canada. Culinary Historians of Canada fonds. Archival & Special Collections, University of Guelph Library (F824).