Review: Secrets of a Hutterite Kitchen by Mary-Ann Kirkby

Secrets of a Hutterite Kitchen is not a typical cookbook, it tells the "intimate details of community life" in a Hutterite colony. I've never done a review of a book before that only has recipes in the back- but I have to say I really liked it. Thank you to Penguin Canada for allowing me to review this book.

Secrets of a Hutterite Kitchen by Mary-Ann Kirkby goes into the inner world of the Hutterite and shows how the "inner works of Hutterite manners and morals, and illuminates the spirit of a workforce responsible for feeding a family of 125 every day of the year" (Synopsis). It shows a "candid snapshot of Hutterite life, exploring the social customs, marriage ceremonies, romantic entanglements, birthing practices, and death rituals as viewed through the Hutterite community kitchen and the fascinating Hutterite women" (Synopsis).

Overall, this book was really interesting- I really enjoyed seeing how they live and the way they have to run the kitchen in order to be able to feed 125 people multiple meals every day of the year. I was amazed at how well the women work together in order to ensure that the community is fed, and was really amazed at how long it took them to cook some of the meals. It was really fun getting the inside scoop on the community and a day through Leah's diary entries. I cannot imagine living in this kind of colony, although I really love their sense of community!

The pictures scattered throughout the book really made the writing come to life. Seeing all of the women sitting and canning tomatoes was really neat. I was also really intrigued by the additional tidbits inserted into the chapters- things like "retirement ages for colony women" and "Pleasant Valley Colony meat chart-requirements per meal" were neat to see.

There are several recipes included in the back of this book, as well as a few sprinkled throughout the chapters, but I didn't try any since they seem to make enough to feed a small army (obviously since the Hutterite need to feed so many in one sitting). I think my absolute favourite recipes has to be the Grau Knedel Mit Schmagus (Washing-Machine Dumplings). The recipe states "Spin dry in spin cycle of your wash machine" (page 192). I thought this was absolutely hilarious and really want to try it!

I highly recommend this book if you are interested in how communities such as the Hutterite cook for so many, or if you are just interested in cooking in general. It really gave you an in depth view of the Hutterite colony and how they operate on a daily basis. I will definitely be scouting out more books similar to this one.

I think this book deserves

 (4/5 forks)

 

 

 

Thank you again to Penguin for allowing me to read and review this book.