Cowan’s Cocoa Insures a Wealth of Health was published sometime between 1920 and 1925. Although the exact year of publication is unknown, it was released during a significant period in Canadian history often dubbed “The Roaring Twenties.” After the First World War, Canada underwent remarkable changes socially, culturally, and economically. The 1920s marked the beginning of a new modern age, accompanied by growth in the industrial sector and a wave of new inventions and technological innovations. During this time, cities expanded as soldiers returned from war and recently arrived immigrants sought work in urban centres.

In the aftermath of the war, women were expected to return to their pre-war roles in the domestic sphere. It was still expected that women would be the primary purchasers of goods for their homes, so food and kitchen appliance advertisements were targeted to appeal to the female consumer. Many of the new technologies coming out of the 1920s were meant to reduce women's labour and provide more efficient ways for housewives to  complete their daily chores. The introduction of kitchen appliances such as toasters, electric stoves, and refrigerators meant changes to how domestic labour was accomplished. Within the kitchen, wood countertops were being replaced by porcelain or enamel ones, and kitchens were growing to include more storage for all the new gadgets and foods appearing on the market. However, many of these new inventions did not make life easier for women in the 1920s. If anything, standards of proficiency were rising, and housewives were being expected to do even more. 

Cowan’s Cocoa Insures a Wealth of Health is also reflective of growing concerns around nutrition and a more scientific approach to cooking. In the early 1920s, milk processing and distribution was evolving in the hopes of producing milk products that were free of deadly bacteria and contamination. This movement to make milk safer was due in large part to Adelaide Hoodless, a social reformer and supporter of domestic science, who was devastated after her youngest son died from consuming contaminated milk in 1889. In the early 20th century, public health officials began to reconsider the value of milk as pasteurization made it much safer for consumption. Now, milk was considered a nutritious beverage that provided several essential vitamins and minerals. In fact, during the 1920s, the Canadian federal government provided dietary guidelines designed to encourage women to feed their children cow’s milk. As such, the first page of this recipe booklet is quite fitting for the period in which it was produced. Cowan’s Cocoa Insures a Wealth of Health emphasizes the importance of Cowan’s Cocoa in a child’s diet, specifically that it will help children to consume milk. Essentially, it claims that children are not always fond of milk, but they will gladly enjoy a cup of cocoa. The booklet also refers to the body-building powers of milk, and that a cup of cocoa made with Cowan’s Cocoa is the most efficient way to attain these powers. The booklet also claims that children love it, as it is healthy for them, and important for their diet. This new focus on health is representative of the growing concerns around proper nutrition in North American society during the 1920s.