Cooking like Mennonites of the 20th century

Two women draw on their own family backgrounds and community stories to fashion new cookbook

Last updated on Oct 15, 2026

Posted on Oct 15, 2026

4 min read

The kitchen was the centre of activity in a Swiss Mennonite home, notes author Barb Draper in a new book she’s written alongside Eileen Freeman.

Grandmother’s Kitchen explores the foods and recipes of Swiss Mennonites in Waterloo Country from the 1920s to the 1950s.

Both Draper and Freeman grew up in Swiss Mennonite families. To create this book, they pored over old cookbooks and talked with more than 20 members of that community.

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