Ebook: Sir John's table: the culinary life & times of Canada's first prime minister

Commemorating the two-hundredth anniversary of Sir John A. Macdonald's birth, Sir John's Table traverses his colourful life, from his passage by boat from Scotland to his new home in Kingston, Upper Canada. It traces his boyhood years of stealing fish and eating fairy cakes into his adult life as a lawyer, husband, father, and eventual leader of the newly founded dominion of Canada. It was a journey that began with hardtack and suspicious-looking, watered-down stew amidst appallingly unsanitary conditions and culminated in grand dinners held in Macdonald's honour. Author Lindy Mechefske traces Macdonald's life through some of the common foods of the day, from mutton, quince, and gooseberries to hare, cow heel, and ox cheek. Along the way, she reveals how to concoct some of these grand dishes. Lindy Mechefske is a freelance writer and food columnist. She is the author of the cookbook A Taste of Wintergreen. She has lived in England, the U.S., and Australia and now lives in Hamilton.