A feast of a book is getting a sumptuous response from the public.
Feast: Recipes And Stories From A Canadian Road Trip was written by Prince George's Lindsay Anderson and her culinary accomplice Dana VanVeller from southern Ontario. Actually, a better word for it would be, this book was experienced into existence by the two wandering gastronauts. They spooned and sprinkled doses of Rankin Inlet, Dawson City, Newfoundland, Vancouver Island, prairies, forests, cities and fields until Feast was a 300-page meal for the mind. They plated the richest and oldest stories of Canadian food perhaps ever assembled.
The nation has noticed. Anderson and VanVeller were recently shortlisted for a Taste Canada Award in the Regional / Cultural (English language) category. The winners of Canada's premier food-culture awards will be revealed on Oct. 29.
They were also called onto the national airwaves when Canadian book icon Shelagh Rogers, host of The Final Chapter program on CBC-Radio, brought the two of them to the microphone to talk about three of Canada's greatest appetites: books, food, and road trips.
Following the radio interview, Anderson told The Citizen that the response to Feast has been voracious.
"We feel incredibly grateful that the book has been received so well," she said from her home in the Lower Mainland. "It's a vulnerable thing to put everything you have into a project, and eventually send it off into the world. It's so personal. The vast majority of feedback we've received, however, has been from people who say they've loved reading the book as much as they enjoy cooking from it. Feast was always about sharing stories that go beyond a particular ingredient or dish, so that's been a really satisfying thing to hear. It's also been fun to receive photos from friends and acquaintances of the book in bookstores large and small, near and far."
Anderson had become famous in food circles of the Lower Mainland as the daily food blogger for the City of Richmond, but she had never written a book before, nor had VanVeller. They started from lofty heights, when Feast was picked for publication by Appetite by Random House, a division of Penguin Random House, one of the biggest book production companies in the world.
"Sometimes the whole thing--from when we first met with Robert McCullough of Appetite by Random House to the first time we held the finished product in our hands--feels like an impossibility," Anderson said.
She couldn't have predicted that the book would also get the attention of the Final Chapter team at CBC, or that one of the best known broadcasters in Canada would call her and VanVeller in for a nationwide chat.
"You know how people say you shouldn't meet your heroes, because they'll end up disappointing you? Well, I'd been listening to Shelagh Rogers for as long as I can remember, so I was actually sort of afraid to speak to her directly," Anderson said. "Of course, my anxiety was completely unwarranted. She was even more friendly, engaging, curious, and funny than I'd imagined her to be, so the interview was an absolute joy. Our book has provided us with some amazing opportunities, and this one ranks pretty high amongst them."
The Taste Canada nomination is also a highlight. Ask almost any author who has ever made that shortlist. Anderson called the news "surreal" and "such an honour."
In their category they are nominated with Rod Butters (The Okanagan Table: The Art of Everyday Home Cooking), Simon Thibault (Pantry And Palate: Remembering And Rediscovering Acadian Food), Emily Wight (Dutch Feast) and the duo of David Wolfman and Marlene Finn (Cooking With The Wolfman).
The winners will be revealed at a Toronto banquet at the Fairmont Royal York Hotel. Organizers called the gala "a one-of-a-kind gastronomic celebration, that brings together writers, publishers, chefs, farmers, industry, media and cookbook fans and promotes a vibrant national conversation about food and the art and culture of culinary writing."
Anderson said the heat generated by Feast was so exciting "personally, I think I'll come around to the reality of it all in about a decade or two."
