Free Press
Book Club

Welcome to the Free Press Book Club!

This monthly book club runs completely online and is open to everyone.

Each month, we choose a novel and share it on this page, as well as in an email to those who have registered to participate. We send a couple of follow-up notes to check in on your progress and suggest a few discussion topics and questions to think about as you go.

At the end of the month, we gather to participate in a livestream book club meeting, hosted by our books editor, Ben Sigurdson, or one of our pals from McNally Robinson Booksellers, as well as the author of the book.

You can submit questions ahead of time, or drop them into one of the live chat boxes during the meeting. (And don’t worry, we provide an easy-to-access link to the stream, so all you have to do is click.)

Our focus is on local authors of varying genres and backgrounds, and we hope you’re excited to dive in.

The Book

mmm… Manitoba
By: Kimberley Moore and Janis Thiessen

Buy Now

In 2018, Janis Thiessen, Kimberley Moore, and collaborator Kent Davies refashioned a used food truck into a mobile oral history lab. Together they embarked on a journey around Manitoba, gathering stories about the province’s food and the people who make, sell, and eat it. Along the way, they visited restaurant owners, beer brewers, grocers, farmers, scholars, and chefs in their kitchens and businesses, online, and on board the food truck. The team conducted nearly seventy interviews and indulged in a bounty of prairie delicacies, from Winnipeg’s “Fat Boys” to Steinbach’s perogies to Churchill’s cloudberry jam.

Thiessen and Moore serve up the results of this research in mmm… Manitoba. Mixing recipes, maps, archival records, biographies, and full-colour photographs with fascinating stories, they showcase the province’s diverse food histories. Through the sharing and preparing of food, the authors investigate food security and regulation, Indigenous foodways and agriculture, capitalism’s impact on the agri-food industry, and the networks between Manitoban food producers and retailers. The book also explores the roles of gender, ethnicity, migration, and colonialism in Manitoba’s food history.

Hop on the Manitoba Food History Truck and journey into the province’s past with engaging essays and easy-to-follow recipes for kjielkje and schmauntfat, snow goose tidbits, chicken karaage, the Salisbury House flapper pie, duck fat smashed potatoes, Ichi Ban cocktails, pork inihaw, and more. mmm… Manitoba offers a thoughtfully nuanced, deliciously digestible, and wholly unique regional history that is sure to satisfy.

Schedule

Wed
Jun 26

July/August book club pick reminder

mmm… Manitoba, by Kimberley Moore and Janis Thiessen

Mon
Jul 22

Check-in

Expect an email from us to check in on your progress. We offer up some discussion questions and other things to think about as you continue reading.

Mon
Aug 12

Livestream information email

This email provides all the information you need for our livestream book club event, including the access link, some information about your viewing options and how you can submit your questions for the author ahead of time.

Tue
Aug 27

Free Press Book Club meeting

Join our live chat starting at 7 p.m. CT with special guests, author Janis Thiessen.

If you have any questions, please email us at bookclub@winnipegfreepress.com