Photo of the author, Elizabeth Bearinger, in 2021

Photo of the compiler, Mary Ann Ruby, in 2021

Although this cookbook was believed to have been written by Mary Ann Ruby, it is actually a collection of family recipes compiled by Elizabeth Bearinger. Along with overseeing the book's writing and publication, Bearinger was also a talented artist and drew the cover page for the cookbook. She grew up on a farm in Markham, Ontario before she met and married Edwin Bearinger from Elmira. Edwin Bearinger’s family has a long history in Elmira; many stories about Elmira's founding and settlement involve Edward Bearinger's relatives. For example, his ancestor Benjamin Eby is mentioned in the cookbook as one of the first men to name the Conestoga River in 1806. All the recipes found within the cookbook had been passed down through the generations to the Bearingers. Around the time the book was published in 1965, Edwin Bearinger was a good friend of a young, local writer named Mary Ann Ruby. Elizabeth Bearinger submitted the family's collection of recipes and historical facts to Ruby who organized and compiled them into the book, Wonderful Goot!

After the book's publication, while Edwin and Elizabeth Bearinger remained in Elmira, Mary Ann Ruby went on to attend Western and McGill universities in order to pursue a career as a librarian. She later settled in Kitchener and worked at the local public library.