WITBY FREE PRESS, WEDNESDAY, NOVEMBER 26, 1980, PAGE 13 Our Historical - -44.-- ~4JJ g Heritage By LUGENE HENRY Whtysforemlost Ihistorianl There is little doubt about it, good food was hard to come by, in the days of first settlement in the Whitby area. As time passed, however, and the first crops of grains and vegetables became available the set- tiers diet sounded reasonable enough, although it was a rough and primitieve bill of fare. Thos first Loyalist settlers who came north to Canada after the American Revolution (1776 - 79) had it hardest, because food sup- plies to nourish a family were not availabe at all. The only food that was fit to eat, in any volume was in the hands of the army and that is where our hungry first settlers went to tide them over till they became self- sufficient in food. There were fish in the streams and in Lake On- tario, Salmon, White fish and pike. There were rabit- ts, squirrel, duck, geese, wild turkey and pigeons for those with a weapon and a sharp eye. It was sometimes, however, before those essentials of good cooking butter, fine flour and sugar were available for the settler table. The army gave the settler rations of flour and salt pork for a couple of years. After that, the settlers welcomed the freedom, to be on their own, because they were an j independant lot. Flour was the key ingredient for survival, it was used to make bread and biscuits and in most cases the early settlers had hand grinders or mills enough to provide a rough flour. The first vegetables were potatoes. The first fruits were wild berries and grapes. Apples came later as the new fruit came on the shoot of trees that were cut from the orchards around the homes they left behind in New York state, Ohio and Pennsylvania. There are questions that should be answered. What were the meals like in early Ontarjo Times? What was the foold like in the 1850's and later? Well, the an- swers are not easy, because once the days of first set- tlement were past and once the pioneer period in Central Ontario was at the end there were a lot of people here some living in Towns and some on farms and all of them had different backgrounds and different tastes in home cooking. Then there were helpers in the kitchens of some homes and some like they do today, had money for food. After the railway came to Whitby, however, in 1856, the average household could buy readily, things that were not available before then - nut meats, ginger, currants, Good food hard to get raisins and a wide range of spices. They were all adver- tised in the Whitby Chronicle back in those days and they all became more widely used, in Whitby kitchens as time passed by. Real tea and coffee were too expensive for all but the very well to do and there was a continual search for substitues but, as in our time nothing was found to match the originals. Perhaps this is a partial explanation for the drinking of strong liquor at meals and other times of the day or night. Lady Simcoe, had good words for a favorite Port Whitby dish, boiled or baked white fish. She said it was "equisitely good" and rich enough to serve without sauce. I am sure that Hughe Campbell and the Stevens Bros. would be please to know that they not only brought fish to the tables of Whitby, but a gourment dish deemed good by our first governor's lady. Work was hard and long on the fams in the Whitby area from the earlies times, and the meals were big and heavy as well. Salt pork and potatoes were often eaten three times a day. When these people moved to town their diet didn't change much, they merely ate less of the same things. Sometimes they traded food staples for venison, ducks and other wild fowl. On speical occasions the accent was on the quality of food served rather than on the cooking of it. The cooks could take only the best of raw materials so far, because after all eVen the best of homes had primitive facilities for cooking meat, baking bread, storing fresh foods and producing good meals as we know the exer- cise today. Granulated cane sugar, odour-free butter and eggs, freedom from natural ice refrigeration and stoves with controllable heat were all future things. Soo too, were the wide variety of fresh foods that came with the urbanization process and chain grocery products stores. Canada's meat packers, the fruit and vegetable canners the big bakers have all made a major contribution to greatly improved food for ail Canadians in modern times. In conclusion, it is my, view, that in early Ontario times, the food was good but the cooking of it was rough, heavy and far from gour- ment fare. Parish officers The ladies of All Saints Parish Guild, Whitby, held their monthly meeting Tuesday, November 11 at 2 p.m. in the parish hall with the president, Tillie Toms presiding. The nominating commit- tee presented the following slate of officers for 1981: - Past president, Tillie Toms; president, Sidney Combdon; 1st vice- president, George Lomax; 2nd , vice-president, rene Roberts; secretary, Margaret Doucette; treasurer, Mrs. G. Levingston; social con- venor, Mrs. Dilling; press secretary, Mrs. El. Gaskin. mMMmcPý FOI N C 0 NI IMERCURyl