Preservation Society

Although Thanksgiving has passed and the short months of the Canadian summer seem distant, it’s as good a time as any to indulge in remembering the many pleasures of the season: the shooting stars, outdoor theatre and concerts, golf, and drinks on patios. And then there’s the good food. The roughly 115 days between the summer solstice, in June, and the traditional end of the harvest, in October, always promise a wonderful bounty on the plate.

It’s my guess that Victoria Dickenson, a historian and curator now based in Montreal, is a true summertime food person. In Berries, she thanks her husband for helping her gather “the sweet fruits of field and garden” before taking the reader on an odyssey through a world of delights that have captured the imagination and palates of naturalists, philosophers, scientists, and plain old gourmands for hundreds of years.