O, Canada, we eat butter tarts for thee…. But who’s counting?
Based on the great feedback I’ve been receiving from you, our readers, I’m excited to let you know that we’re making some little changes to the magazine that you will start to see soon. I still need your help. Here’s how:
I don’t like my butter tarts with raisins. Yep, this is a bold statement, and I bet that if you are a diehard raisins-in-your-butter-tart fan, you are putting down this magazine, sighing and getting ready to type me a scolding email. But wait! Let me finish. I still enjoy raisins, just not in my favourite dessert. At Canadian Living headquarters, what goes – or doesn’t go – into this hallmark of Canadian cuisine is a polarizing debate too. Our Test Kitchen staff is equally divided on the subject, but when we asked our Facebook friends, the pro-raisins crowd dominated. Wherever you stand, I can assure you that the recipe we feature this month on page 111, with its sour cream pastry and runny sugary filling, is the best one I’ve ever had. (Thanks, Mel, for making so many extras the day we were shooting them. I ate three!)
In our rapidly changing world, being Canadian is much more than just falling firmly on either side of the debate about squishy fruit in your gooey, buttery dessert. Certainly, global politics, technological developments and the state of the environment point to a critical juncture in human history. Not long ago, author and Globe and Mail columnist David Eddie and I were having a great conversation about this that led us to wonder what “being Canadian” meant, if anything, to our nation’s generation of schoolage kids. Both of us parents of athletic boys, our conversation quickly pivoted to hockey and competition. We were reacting to the idea that so many sports associations have changed, or are contemplating changing, their approach to playing that would see the elimination of scorekeeping from all organized games. That’s right: Across the country, kids under 12 are launching balls or pucks into nets and, supposedly, nobody is keeping score (ha!). Read more about David’s take on this starting on page 62 and then, if you have a chance, please let me know what you think.
Should we be teaching our kids the valuable lessons of how to win and how to lose? If we eliminate the competition from children’s sports, will they grow up with different values? And how will that change the face of the Canada we know today?
I APPRECIATE YOUR FEEDBACK
What are your favourite things about Canadian Living? What would you like to see more of? What would you like to see less of? Share your opinions with me at jen@canadianliving.com.