Nathalie M. Cooke
women鈥檚 life writing; Canadian literature; social food studies; history of print; ephemera studies.
What are textual fingerprints of social change and how do they impact everyday life? This question has piqued my curiosity and driven my research across a variety of topics and periods. My conviction that literature, life writing and letters are our best windows to glimpse details of dailiness compels my scholarship.听听
I am a Canadianist, with expertise in life writing, women鈥檚 writing, and primary source literacy. Much of my research in recent years has involved working in historical rare collections and with archival fonds. However, my publications and teaching also focus on contemporary Canadian fiction and poetry.听My early studies looked to such writers as Margaret Atwood, Lorna Crozier, Mary di Michele and Audrey Thomas who told stories in the first person about women鈥檚 lives and the shifting social landscape in Canada and North America more generally.听Subsequently, I looked to non-fictional sources: cookbooks, journals, correspondence, and such historical ephemera as newspaper columns and advertisements to find traces of the shifting landscape.听The current book project,鈥�Tastes and Traditions听(Reaktion 2025), offers an illustrated exploration of what surprising stories historical menus can tell 鈥� through their words, but also in the non-verbal languages of design, illustration and food selection.
B.Ed., M.A., Ph.D. (University of Toronto)
M.A. (Cornell)
B.A. (Queen's University, Kingston)
Books
with Shelley Boyd, Canadian Literary Fare听(Winner of the Gabrielle Roy Prize, McGill-Queen's University Press, 2023)
Margaret Atwood: A Critical Companion听(Greenwood Press, 2004)
Margaret Atwood: A Biography (ECW Press 1998)
Edited Volumes
with Fiona Lucas, Catharine Parr Traill鈥檚 The Female Emigrant鈥檚 Guide, Cooking with a Canadian Classic. (McGill-Queen鈥檚 University Press, 2017)
with Kathryn Harvey, The Family Treasury: A Collection of Household and Medicinal Receipts, 1741-1848听(Rocks Mills Press, 2015)听
with Norm Ravvin, "Mordecai Richler," Canadian Literature 204. (August 2011)听
What鈥檚 to Eat? Entr茅es in Canadian Food History听(McGill-Queen鈥檚 University Press, 2009)
Founding editor of Cuizine: the Journal of Canadian Food Cultures, an online, born-digital, peer-reviewed and indexed journal published by the McGill Library. 脡rudit, Montreal: 2008-听
with Suzanne Morton, re-editions of Phyllis Brett Young鈥檚 novels听The Torontonians (1960) and听Psyche (1959) (McGill-Queen鈥檚 University Press, 2007-2008)听
with Donna Bennett and Russell Brown. An Anthology of Canadian Literature in English, Revised and Abridged听(Oxford University Press, 1990)
Articles and Book Chapters
(听触 )
鈥�溾�橳here Are as Many Sorts of Mango as of Apples鈥�: The Gwillim Archive and the Emergence of Anglo-Indian Cuisine.鈥� Women, Environment, and Networks of Empire: Elizabeth Gwillim and Mary Symonds in Madras. Eds. Anna Winterbottom, Victoria Dickenson, Ben Cartwright and Lauren Williams (McGill-Queen's University Press, 2023): 231-247.听听
with Anna Dysert, and Merika Ramundo, 鈥淓dible Enigmas: Food Riddles and Enigmatical Bills of Fare?鈥� 颈苍听Collections Thinking: Within and Without Libraries, Archives and Museums. Eds. Jason Camlot, Martha Langford & Linda Morra. (Routledge, 2023): 75-90.听听听
鈥淩eflecting on Home and Away 鈥� Over a Canadian Meal.鈥� in A Taste of Home: Les saveurs de chez soi. Eds. Ylenia De Luca and Oriana Palusci (Guernica World Editions, 2022): 1-40.听听
with Nora Shaalan, 鈥淒atabase Dishes.鈥�听颈苍 The Teaching with Archives & Special Collections Cookbook. Ed. by Julie M. Porterfield. (Association of College & Research Libraries, 2021)
with Leehu Sigler, 鈥�,鈥�听Petits Propos Culinaires 120听(Prospect Books, 2021): 13-45.听
鈥淰anns Spices: Blending Food, Women鈥檚 Friendship and Business in 1980s Baltimore.鈥� Food and Foodways: Explorations in the History and Culture of Human Nourishment. 28.4 (2020): 297-319.
鈥淢ontreal in the Culinary Imagination鈥� in Canadian Culinary Imaginations, Eds. Shelley Boyd and Dorothy Barenscott. (McGill-Queen's University Press, 2020): 117-145.听听
with Shelley Boyd and Alexia Moyer, 鈥淎 Literary History of the Mandarin Orange in Canada.鈥� Gastronomica,听vol.鈥�20鈥�, no.鈥�1, (Spring 2020): 83-89.
With Jennifer Garland, 鈥淩eflection: Lived and Idealized Self and Other in Women鈥檚 Journals,鈥� 颈苍听鈥疻omen and the Periodical Press in China's Long Twentieth Century: A Space of Their Own?鈥�, Eds.听Michel Hockx, Joan Judge and Barbara Mittler (Cambridge University Press, 2018): 215-217.听
鈥淲riting the Chinese Restaurateur into the Canadian Literary Landscape.鈥� Studies in Canadian Literature. 42.2 (2018): 5-25.
with Alexia Moyer, 鈥淢easuring Out Life in Coffee Spoons: Canadian Literary Breakfasts.鈥� CuiZine: The Journal of Canadian Food Cultures. 8.1 (2017). Released 12 June 2018.
鈥淪tories of Rice Lake -- Stewards, Settlers and Storytellers,鈥� Food and Landscape, Proceedings of the Oxford Symposium on Food and Cookery 2017. Editor, Mark McWilliams (Prospect Books, 2018): 99-109.听
"Lessons from Generations Past: Timely and Timeless Communication Strategies of Some Canadian Cooks of Note," Food and Communication, Proceedings of the Oxford Symposium on Food and Cookery 2015. Ed. Mark McWilliams. (Prospect Books, 2016): 131-142.听
"Canadian Food Radio: Conjuring Nourishment for Canadians Out of Thin Air." How Canadians Communicate. Ed, Charlene Elliott (University of Athabasca Press, 2016): 107-128.听
"Canadian Cookbooks: Changing Ideas about Cooking and Contamination, 1854鈥�1898," Canadian Bulletin of Medical History 32.2 (October 2015): 297-318.
鈥淪preading Controversy: The Story of Margarine in Quebec.鈥� Edible Histories: A Canadian Food History Anthology,听Ed. Marlene Epp, Valerie Korinek, Franca Iacovetta (2012): 249-268.听
"Lorna Crozier," in Canadian Writers and Their Works, Vol 11., Ed. David, Lecker & Quigley (1995): 77-159.听
Reviews and Public Scholarship
Public Scholarship听
with Jacquelyn Sundberg, 鈥�,鈥� The Conversation,听1 May 2023.
Study Guides听
鈥淎n Introduction to the Illustrated Menu Collection.鈥�听(Bloomsbury Publishing, 2022)
with Shelley Boyd, 鈥溾�� a CanLit Guide (a pedagogical initiative of the journal Canadian Literature), 2017. See .听
Curated Exhibitions and General Audience Outputs听
with Ronny Litvack-Katzman, Jacquelyn Sundberg, Octavian Sopt, News and Novel Sensations: Victorian Novels and Newspaper Agony Ads. McLennan Library. 11 January 鈥� 31 March, 2023.听听
with Kristen Howard, Leehu Sigler, Octavian Sopt, Jacquelyn Sundberg, Food for Thought: Riddles and Riddling Ways. McLennan Library. 1 February -1 July, 2022.听听
with Irina Mihalache and Elizabeth Ridolfo, Mixed Messages: Making and Shaping Culinary Culture in Canada. Fisher Library,听University of Toronto. 24 May 2018- September 2018. Catalogue: Mixed Messages: Making and Shaping Culinary Culture in Canada听(Coach House Press, 2018).听听
Teaching Awards听听听
- Scholarly and Research Communication Journal Innovation Award for "The CanLit Guides Project,"听2019 听
- Royal Bank Teaching Innovation Awards, 2004, 1995听
- Carrie Derrick Award for Graduate Teaching, McGill, Faculty of Arts and Sciences, 2002听
- Inaugural Louis Dudek Teaching Award for Teaching Excellence in the McGill English Department, 1996听
Scholarly Awards听
- Gabrielle Roy Prize for Canadian Literature Fare, 2023
- Society for the History of Natural History President's Medal for "The Gwillim Project," 2022
- Lifetime Honorary Member, Canadian Historians of Canada, October 2022
- Silver, in the Cuisine Canada Book Awards for What鈥檚 to Eat?, 2010
Select Research Grants听
- SSHRC Insight Development Grant, 鈥淐iphers of the Times, Cryptic Communications in Victorian England鈥澨�
- SSHRC Connections Grant. 鈥淧layOn! What Happens When Libraries Play?鈥澨�
- SSHRC Insight Development Grant. 鈥淔ood For Thought.鈥澨�
- SSHRC Connections Grant. 鈥淩are collections at the heart of campus and community.鈥澨�
- Co-investigator, SSHRC Insight Grant. "The Richler Library Project: Historicizing, Processing, Developing and Theorizing the Author鈥檚鈥疨ersonal Library as Collection.鈥澨�
- Co-investigator, SSHRC Insight Development Grant, Scripting Futures: A Narratological Investigation of How International Organizations Shape National Realities.
I would welcome expressions of interest from graduate students interested in any aspect of life writing or primary source research, especially referencing key markers of social change (food being my particular focus); Canadian literature; genres of riddle and narrative forms rooted in cryptic communication, including mystery; the shaping of cultural and literary taste.听听