The St. Andrew’s Cookbook was published during the Second World War and through it’s recipes discusses a variety of important themes in food history. The internationalisation of cuisine was beginning to take shape in the 1950’s as more immigrants came to North America. During this period of immense immigration food became an important method of conserving culture as people settled into new places that were often vastly different from their own. Often times these immigrants would have come over with little to no belongings or money, so food acted as an important connection to their past. This idea is called memory foods.

In the later 19th century North Americans began to adopt memory foods from various ethnic groups in attempts to be seen as worldly. Adopting these new exotic and foreign foods was an easier way to travel the world, in an age where tourism began to take off. In the process, many cultures, especially Asian cultures were appropriated and fetishised by white upper class Canadians.

The publication of The St. Andrew’s Cookbook would have most likely been after the resettlement campaign of Asian Canadians. Asian culture had been fetishised since the early 19th and 20th centuries, but the inclusion of Asian ingredients as foreign foods was the most common form in the 20th century. The Cookbook’s inclusion of multiple Asian inspired recipes and ingredients speaks to the uneasy relationship between the developing Ontario Asian population and the Caucasian rural population.

World War II brought issues of xenophobia to the world stage. As more Asian immigrants settled in Canada and war eventually broke out in the Pacific Theatre a “Yellow Peril” began. The government began to deem Canadian citizens and immigrants of Asian and other nationalities as “enemy aliens.”These enemy aliens were considered dangerous and as such, the government began to forcibly evacuate Japanese and Chinese Canadians. Entire communities were evacuated from major urban areas to camps in the interior of British Columbia.These “Enemy Aliens” were shipped off to internment camps and forced to abandon their property, homes, businesses and jobs.

Forced deportations ended in 1946. However, those who had already been deported and interned could not return home. Instead, the Canadian Government resettled the “Enemy Alien” population throughout the remainder of Canadian provinces. Toronto became the new Asian cultural hub for those resettled. Those who were resettled were still continuously discriminated against. They were prohibited from buying land, and homes. It was finally in 1948 that the government proclaimed rights for Japanese Canadians. By 1949 Japanese Canadians were finally allowed back to the British Columbian coast. Discussions about what it meant to be a Canadian citizen and who was considered a Canadian citizen were brought about in 1949, as a result of the inhumane treatment of Asian Canadians.

The attitudes towards Canada’s Asian population were far more negative that of Asian inspired dishes. It is important to understand the dichotomy between these perspectives to prevent further appropriation from occurring. There is a fine line between appreciation and appropriation. Tasting and sampling foods from other cultures can be an exciting way to learn about them, but attention must be paid to the cultural significance and history behind dishes to fully appreciate them.