Ground Floor and Room 301, Murray Library
Curators: Laurie Wing, Stevie Horn
Food has the power to bring us together, and has been doing so since the dawn of civilization. Through centuries, cultures worldwide have developed complex rituals surrounding food, its preparation, presentation, and consumption.
An interesting perspective on food and entertaining as we have come to know it can be found in viewing the menus of the past. We have moved past a time when celery was a common offering in the meal’s first course and menus and invitations were hand-crafted by the hosts. More recent menus show far more complex, ethnic, and less traditional fare—but also reveal a lack of the personalization and humor seen in menus of earlier decades.
The University of Saskatchewan Archives and Special Collections invites you to visit it's two-floor display featuring a variety of menus from several decades, along with an array of other interesting ephemera such as dance cards and photographs, all intended to give a sense of how people shared the experiences of eating and celebrating in the past, particularly on our own U of S campus.
Throughout the course of the exhibit, we will also be featuring pages from The Dinner Calendar written in 1915 by Fannie Merritt Farmer of the Boston cooking school. This little book features a proposed menu, along with one detailed recipe from that menu for every day of the year. If you are interested in daily food inspiration, keep an eye on our news feed on the main page.
