Editor's Introduction

What is "good" food, and how might it contribute to what we might think of as a "good" life? In this year's two issues of CuiZine we showcase answers from a wide variety of individuals in very different walks of life. In the first issue of 2015, we heard answers from our friends and neighbours--including home cooks in New Zealand, and artisinal food producers and salespeople of Vermont. With this second issue in 2015, contributors look to answers voiced by Canadians, who define good food by what they choose to grow, prepare, serve and savour. Three studies offer new insights into some of the country's founding food traditions and personalities. Anne-Marie Wheeler turns her attention to Martin Picard, who she argues has reinvigorated Quebec cuisine through a tasty mixture of excellent food and conviviality, and also uses food as a way of interpreting joual for English audiences. Just as diners book months in advance to join the culinary fun at his sugar shack come Spring, so too readers enjoy the way his book as well as his dining venues translate the foodways of Repentigny and Montréal for the wider public who has proved to be hungry for the experience. Kate Zankowicz offers an in-depth look at what was on the menu when "Mrs. A," the beloved radio personality of mid-twentieth century, and first Director of 'Women's Activities' of the Women's Division at the C.N.E served up information about what Canadians were eating. Alison Norman sheds light on culinary traditions among the Haudenosaunee (Iroquois) in southern Ontario, and how they came to incorporate new foods while still retaining the core community values that food and food sharing embody. Since its beginnings in 2009, this journal has engaged with the diversity of food cultures. It began with a focus on the multiple food cultures within Canada but soon moved to understand its appetite for comparisons between Canada's multiple food cultures as a model for broader exploration of comparative food cultures. We are consequently delighted to offer two complementary issues this year, which bring together contributions addressing this pressing question from the perspective of those within Canada and beyond. In this fall issue of 2015, we look to Canada's iconic foodways and to Canadian food icons, including Kate Aitken, Martin Picard, and culinary foremother Catharine Parr Traill, whose Female Emigrant's Guide of 1854 inspired Rita Taylor's vivid photography. Much has changed since this journal was first launched in 2009. At least two other journals have been launched to explore the bounty of Canadian foodways and meet the growing appetite for food communication. One is an open-access scholarly journal, supported by The Canadian Association of Food Studies. Canadian Food Studies released its first issue in 2014. The other magazine, also launched in 2014, is a lavishly illustrated print journal entitled Caribou, which gives its readers a taste of Quebec's rich culinary traditions as well as the innovative foods and ideas of chefs in Quebec's major centres and regions. Watch for a review of this new journal in the 2016 spring issue of CuiZine. As of 2014 too, we at CuiZine are proud to share that we enjoy an annual readership of approximately 12,000 in over 114 countries. This is thanks to the quality of material we publish, and also thanks to the work of our very able Lead for External Communications, Renée Desjardins. At CuiZine we are committed to providing open access material, so that we can reach the broadest public. Offering a mix of scholarly articles alongside interviews, as well as features including audio, visual and creative material, CuiZine continues to offer …