My Canada Includes Foie Gras is Jacob Richler’s personal culinary journey, beginning at his mother’s dinner table, unfolding in the favourite restaurants of his father, Mordecai, and culminating in a two-decades-long career as a food columnist, restaurant critic, and cookbook writer. Here Richler tells the story of Canadian cooking at its most accomplished, from fast food to haute cuisine. Along the way he profiles the dishes that form our national culinary identity and the chefs behind them—exploring their backgrounds and training, as well as what makes them tick, from the rare vantage point of a writer who’s always been welcome in their kitchen. Richler also examines the roots of our cuisine, speculates on the direction it’s headed, and attempts to gauge how it measures up internationally. And he does it all with a hands-on, personal approach, interspersing recipes that allow the reader to duplicate some rich part of the Canadian experience at home—whether it be Mark McEwan’s indispensable foie gras, Thomas Haas’s celebrated pineapple carpaccio, or the hitherto secret recipe for a smoked meat sandwich as served at Schwartz’s in its heyday. Finally, and perhaps most important, he undertakes this all with a sense of fun. | My Canada Includes Foie Gras by Jacob Richler, Paperback | Indigo Chapters