The Secret is in the Sauce

With an aging population and an increasing number of elderly people affected by Alzheimer’s disease and other cognitive difficulties, our collective memory is on the point of disappearing. And this is even more evident among Quebec’s English-speaking seniors, who are fewer in number, less visible and more isolated. The result is the lamentable loss of our cultural heritage, of stories, of recipes, all of which are part of a unifying thread between the generations, weaving the cultural fabric that allows a community to be a community. In 10 or 20 years, who will remember the traditional recipe for Greek baklava, Russian blini, the Irish recipe for ham hock and colcannon, or Italian passata della Nonna? Food that people once ate when they gathered together for family meals, and which nourishes the soul.

No time to visit Grandma at the hospital or at her residence? We will do it for all those young and not-so-young people whose hectic lives prevent them from visiting their aging relatives and who, as a result, will be deprived of a vital cultural heritage.

The Secret Is in the Sauce is a project that relies on Quebecers’ (of all origins and languages) love of food and their innate sense of celebration and festivity to create a project that will bring together and give recognition to anglophone culture among first-generation immigrants and First Nations communities.

In the pursuit of the finer recipes there is in the Quebec English-speaking communities, the author, blogger, talk show host and journalist Monique Polak is travelling across Quebec with the professional photographer Monique Dykstra meeting with 20 English-speaking seniors from first-generation immigrants and First Nations communities gathering recipes that highlight the culinary traditions and festivities from various countries and culture and thus, exploring their history and promoting the transfer of culture and knowledge across generations and countries.

But the Secret is in the sauce project does not stop there. Every two weeks you will be invited to meet a new English-speaking senior from first-generation immigrants or First Nations communities and learn a new recipe on this web page. The interviews will result in the creation of a “Secret is in the Sauce” book shock-full of uplifting and entertaining stories as well as previously unreleased recipes and photography from the interviews. This culinary book will be available free of charge and launched at the 2021 Blue Metropolis International Literary Festival. You can pre-order your edition by writing to: frederick.gaudin-laurin@metropolisbleu.org.

Monique Polak is the author of 26 books for young people. Her spring 2019 titles are I Am a Feminist: Claiming the F-Word in Turbulent Times, and Princess Angelica, Part-Time Lion Trainer. Monique is a two-time winner of the Quebec Writers’ Federation Prize for Children’s and Young Adult Literature. Monique has been teaching at Marianopolis College for 32 years. She is also a freelance journalist whose stories have appeared in the Montreal Gazette and in Postmedia publications across the country. Monique is a columnist on ICI-Radio Canada’s Plus on est de fous, plus on lit!

Monique Dykstra is professional photographer from Montreal, Canada, and the author of two photography books. She opened Studio Iris Photography in 1994, a busy Montreal studio that specializes in wedding photography, family portraits, corporate events, business portraits, and private photography classes and workshops.