Hall of Fame Award | 2016

Though born in Toronto, Julian Armstrong fell in love with Quebec when she began working at the Montreal Gazette in the 1950s. After taking a cooking class, Armstrong started writing about food, using her travels around rural Quebec as a guidebook. Today, she is still working for the Gazette on a column called “Six O’Clock Solution,” where she spotlights recipes from recently published cookbooks. She has authored two of her own cookbooks, including A Taste of Quebec (1990), which explores the cuisines found throughout the province. Recipes and ingredients unique to each region are highlighted, along with local culinary traditions. Her background in history (she obtained a degree from the University of Toronto) is evident throughout the book as she notes how settlers in the colonial period contributed to the development of a unique French-Canadian food culture by cooking with local ingredients. Through her writing, Armstrong educates readers but also inspires them to visit the regions she profiles.

Armstrong, Julian. A Taste of Quebec. Toronto: Macmillan of Canada, 1990. Archival & Special Collections, University of Guelph Library (TX 715.6.A752).