Food and Meals on the Upper St. Lawrence - Part 3: 2000-2025

Parts 1 and 2 (1875 – 2000) of this article peek into a detailed cultural history of food and meals on the St. Lawrence River. It starts with a gradual overall increase in ingredients, in tools and small appliances, and in size, variety, and function of stoves and refrigerators.

Around 1920, the increase started to speed up. Now, what a bounty is available to cooks and their families! Prepackaged and processed everything, bakeries and delicatessens inside grocery stores, and take-out from restaurants have changed meal preparation from a many-hour activity each day in 1875 to mere minutes in 2025.

Yet, saving time isn’t the whole story. We have happily become exposed to cuisines we might never have tried but for the larger groceries with room to display so many fresh, frozen, dried, and packaged choices.

Some recipes turned out to be fads that we tried, but which didn’t last; we supplanted the fads with older recipes that we had always liked. One example is the bread we eat. In 1875, bread was mainly made at home and included wheat, rye, pumpernickel, and bran flours as well as white. These loaves had crisp crusts and what a baker would call a “large crumb.” By 1950, Wonder Bread had appeared, uniformly white, with a cake-like structure, and pre-sliced for convenience. For a few decades, sliced white bread was the default purchase from the grocery. Easy? Sure, but less healthy and a bit dull.

In the latter part of the 2000s, another change brought back whole wheat breads, sourdough, and rye, some with heavy crusts. These were loaves from the grocery like the loaves that grandmother and mom had baked. The only thing missing was the aroma of bread baking at home. During the Covid Pandemic lock-down, with time on our hands, even though many had never made a loaf of bread before, we gave it a try and loved the results—both that warm, yeasty smell and that tasty bread. Though home-made bread now may be reserved for special occasions, it is back in the cook’s repertoire. There are many bread recipes in the book, including one described by its cook as no-fail.

Cooking fish from the River is another skill many lost through the years. In 2025, many who do cook the catch use the same recipe again and again. The recipe section of the book will take the reader back to the early days with a ‘how-to’ on cleaning the fish.

Families with avid fishermen and women use a purpose-made cutting board out of doors for this task; it keeps the kitchen smelling clean--and the fish scales from flying here and there. A few families have used the same fish board for a very long time. There are a dozen or so appealing recipes in the book on how to cook the catch--Bass, Pike, Walleye and Sunfish from the River —as well as shellfish and others bought at the grocery. There were fishing guides in 1875 and there are fishing guides in 2025. And they still will prepare a shore dinner for their guests. If you want to prepare this special meal at home, you will find two recipes in the book.

In 2023, The New York Times gave advice on the best durable kitchen equipment. At the top of the list were cast iron skillets that last a lifetime. Yes, they do, and we on the River are proof that they actually last several lifetimes when handed down from generation to generation. They also work perfectly on the new induction stoves. Old has become new—again.

Since the recipes in the book come from cooks up and down the River, many names a reader will recognize—a few famous, like George Boldt’s daughter Clover—some others from your own friends and family, no longer with us. The reader’s mind may fill in the stories behind the recipes and shared good times. Then, now, and always, enjoying a meal with family and friends is a time-honored activity on the River. Our potlucks are just that—a piece of luck for those who share a pot of tasty food.

We must not forget dessert in summing up 150 years of food and meals on the Upper River. Perhaps ice cream has the longest unbroken hold on our food pleasures. Most would say commercially made ice cream is just fine. Yet, hasn’t the communal fun of cranking an old White Mountain ice cream maker made the result taste even better because of the anticipation and shared effort? Even if ice cream from the store is perfectly fine, can you beat a scoop placed atop a warm slice of homemade apple, cherry, strawberry/rhubarb, or blueberry pie? There are many recipes for pies in the book. And don’t overlook the cookie recipes. The kids (young and old) will thank you.

The dust jacket on the book features a photo of American and Canadian friends enjoying a Labor Day Weekend meal in 2024 in Thousand Island Park. Our ties of friendship will continue forever. Happy eating!

This is the final of the three-part series on the Food and Meals in Thousand islands Park and Upper St. Lawrence River 1875-2025 by Sandra Moore Rennie. For more information about the book or to purchase it, please go to: thousandislandparklandmarksociety.org.

By Sandra Moore Rennie

Sandra Rennie summers in Thousand Island Park, where her husband’s family set down roots in the early 20th century. She has contributed to several anthologies on living well and is working on a book on her life in gardens. She started an early multi-disciplinary environmental consulting firm, served as a senior executive at the US Dept. of Energy in Washington, D.C. and for 20 years as a mediator of multi-party, high stakes environmental disputes around the USA.