LEDUC, Alta. – A cookbook filled with stories, recipes and advice from Alberta grandmothers was so successful that a national edition will soon be published.
Golden Spoon, the Alberta edition of the grandmother’s recipe and advice cookbook, has sold more than 5,000 copies, making it a Canadian bestseller.
The response has been “phenomenal,” said Susan Blackman, co-author of Golden Spoon. She published the cookbook because she wanted to record the stories of Alberta grandmothers.
“I talked to a lot of women,” said Blackman, of Leduc, Alta.
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“They were telling neat stories about their past and kids.”
But as publisher of Alberta’s Farm Gateway newspaper and Prairie Hog Country magazine, she knew how difficult it would be to market a book based solely on interesting stories.
Instead, Blackman and co-author Dawn Ius interspersed the grandmothers’ tidbits of advice, interesting stories and helpful hints into a cookbook of favorite recipes.
“We wanted to produce a labor of love,” Blackman said.
“It’s not going to make us millions of dollars. We’re just happy to do it.”
The Alberta edition was published last fall and the Canadian edition will be published this fall.
“We’re doing a Canadian edition because this one was so successful and well received.”
They want the recipes and notes to reflect a large geographical area. In Alberta, they requested stories and recipes from across the province. For the Canadian edition, they want about 10 pieces of advice, recipes and stories from each province and territory.
Most of the copy for the Canadian edition is complete. They need a few more recipes from Nova Scotia, Prince Edward Island, Quebec and the territories.
Blackman was especially impressed by the grandmothers’ stories. Some were of happy and fun times, while others were sad and deep and told of the death of children.
She keeps in contact with many of her contributors through a Golden Spoon newsletter. She keeps the grandmothers updated with information on their travels or surgeries.
As part of the cookbook project, Blackman and Ius developed a Golden Spoon award to honor Canadian women who help other women. Recipe contributor Lola McNeil of Edmonton was chosen as the first award winner because of the time she spends visiting and assisting elderly women in hospitals. McNeil received $100, which will be donated in her name to the Alberta chapter of the osteoporosis society, which also receives five percent of the money from book sales. So far, said Blackman, that has worked out to $2,000. A percentage of the Canadian book sales will go to the national chapter.
“If we’re going to support something, we want to do it in keeping with something that affects older women,” said Blackman.
