Many stories have been written about Powell River, but not a lot about food, or as ambitious a project as a soon-to-be released fundraiser cookbook.
The story of Powell River through food is going to be told in a new cookbook that will be launched at Powell River Public Library at 6:30 pm on Saturday, November 18. A fundraiser for the library, the book is called Water & Wood: Recipes from a Coastal Community.
“It’s about the story of Powell River through food,” said cookbook editor Megan Cole.
Water & Wood is a cookbook with many recipes, but the content is also a history of the region told through food, said Cole.
Water & Wood is about the landscape, the history of how people obtained food from the land, food that is indigenous to the lakes, rivers, ocean, mountains and forest, and stories of people growing and cooking food.
“That's something that often gets overlooked about history,” said Cole. “Food tells a lot about a place and its history. Food brings people together in the most tremendous way.”
The real work on the cookbook began in the summer of 2016, when Cole, also the library's teen services coordinator, and library board trustee Charlotte Gill began to get a sense from local foodies about the idea.
“We got to meet so many of Powell River’s restaurateurs, chefs and farmers,” said Gill. “We learned so much about the work they do to provide all of our incredible local food.”
Gill said food has been a part of the region’s story for thousands of years and the book captures a taste of that in the recipes, photos and narrative.
The project brought together writers, photographers and designers who volunteered countless hours to the project, according to Cole. Even the paper was local, donated by Catalyst Paper Corporation's Powell River mill.
“It was important to me that as much of this book as possible be done by local people.” said Gill
Gill, Cole, Sonia Zagwyn, Nola Poirier and Angie Davey all contributed as writers. Photography was done by Jennifer Dodd and Nathan Jantz, Caitlin McDonagh provided illustrations and Ryan Thompson did the design. There was also a lucky group of recipe testers.
Water & Wood is not the kind of cookbook that many people envision when they think about a community cookbook project, according to Cole.
“It's beautifully photographed and the layout is spectacular,” she said. “We tried to make it something that people would be really proud to have. It's a beautiful book. It really captures Powell River in a great light.”
Cole and Gill initially took the idea for the fundraising cookbook project from Nelson Public Library.
“We just wanted to do a fundraiser cookbook,” said Cole. “We didn't know what the theme would be. It was just that we're going to do it, and figure out how to do it and go from there.”
The Nelson library has done two cookbooks that were hugely popular in the Kootenays, according to Gill.
“But it also travelled out across the province,” said Gill, “and quite a bit farther than anyone expected. They are our inspiration, and certainly we hope for similar results.”
For more information about the cookbook, go to prpl.ca/explore/water-wood.
