After a long day of work, I want to make a quick, easy meal that tastes great. And one that’s light and healthy.
That’s a tall order, isn’t it? Those of us who have written and tested recipes know.
Just three cookbooks I’ve used in the last decade fit the bill. Until recently, I took these books for granted. I didn’t think about the author as a professional in our field. I was too busy cooking, grateful to be a home cook using good recipes that worked.
Earlier this year I went to Canada for a food blogging conference. I decided to find this cookbook author whose no-fail recipes I used for years. Her name is no secret to Canadians: Anne Lindsay. The weathered and stained cookbooks on my kitchen bookshelf — gifts from my sister in Vancouver — are
- Lighthearted Everyday Cooking (1991)
- Anne Lindsay’s Light Kitchen (1994)
- The Lighthearted Cookbook: Recipes for Healthy Heart Cooking (1998)
She wrote these cookbooks with health organization partners: The Heart and Stroke Foundation of Canada, The United Way of Canada, and the Canadian Heart Foundation. (You’ll learn in a minute why this was a brilliant idea.) And even though they’re older cookbooks, the recipes are still relevant and fresh.
Lindsay has a long and distinguished career as a food writer. Now 70 and retired, she was the nutrition editor for the national Canadian Living magazine for 10 years, a freelancer for Canada’s national newspaper, The Globe & Mail, and a food columnist for the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation (CBC).
She’s has probably written enough recipes to paper every wall of her home. I bet every food writer in Canada has been influenced by her style. Few of her recipes are online, but I did find these:
Note their practicality and brevity. And if you cook any of them, I’m confident you’ll be happy with the results.
During our interview, the super-successful author was modest and approachable. I love her tips about cookbook promotion, and recipe development, and writing from the heart:
Q. How many cookbooks have you have sold in Canada?
A. A few million.
Q. What about other countries?
A. At least three of my books were published in the US, four were published in the UK, Italy, and Spain. I was known in Canada, though, so most sales were from there.
Q. Why were your books so successful?
A. Partly it was having (medical) societies selling it, but also because I love to cook. I had three kids at the time, I knew what I could do and what they liked, and healthy eating has to be everyday stuff.
I like to get most of the ingredients at the grocery store, so I tried to be as helpful as possible to home cooks — as easy as possible and short. I had cooked my way through Julia Child, and subscribed to Gourmet, but I kept trying to simplify.
I also had a new audience, because when someone in their family had a heart attack, they had to change the way they cooked. Mine wasn’t that low fat, but it was lower than most cookbooks, and they might not have bought cookbooks before.
Q. How did these medical associations help you sell books?
A. I had a whole salesforce across the country, because the associations were making money by selling the book. Also some of the royalties went to the Cancer Society and the Heart and Stroke Society.
Q. And you did lots of promotion as well?
I did promotional trips across the country. I knew most of the newspaper food writers, so they gave me the front page of the food section on Wednesdays.
And then when I went to do radio or TV, I got the best spots because someone had someone in their family who had died of cancer or a heart problem, so they wanted to interview me.
When I was at the Toronto Star in the late 1970s, I heard about a cookbook, The Best of Bridge. Eight women played bridge and wrote a cookbook. I interviewed them, and they said they didn’t say no to anyone who asked them to speak, because there were eight of them. They’ve gone on to publish at least 10 cookbooks. I remembered that.
Q. What is the secret to good recipe development?
A. Accurate measurement. It’s a real bind … to write it down, but it is essential. After I’ve developed and tested my recipes, I then have someone test them as well. A lot of the cookbook recipes were published in newspapers and magazines beforehand, and they would go through their test kitchens as well.
Also, taking home ec (economics), you learned how to write recipes. And writing for magazines helped develop my recipe writing. You have to give enough information, but not too much – find the happy medium of what people need to know.
Q. What was your biggest challenge?
A. Reducing the fat. There were certain things I didn’t attempt, like Yorkshire Pudding and Butter Tarts. I used yogurt often and for desserts sometimes mixed it with lemon zest and a little sugar. As I progressed I sometimes aded a little whipped cream. But people don’t want to go out and buy a container to use a little bit. I actually spoke to the buttermilk people and asked them if they could sell it in a smaller container. It’s so good in mashed potatoes and salad dressings.
Q. What was new about your recipes?
A. Some of my recipes were quite different in the 1980s. People hadn’t used fresh garlic, fresh herbs, and fresh ginger in cooking. Lemongrass was difficult to find so I used lemon zest.
Q. What advice do you have for people who write recipes?
A. Trust your own judgment in what you like. Sometimes it seems like food writers try to impress people. You have to make sure it’s something you would like to serve to your family and make a number of times.
The other thing I think is hugely helpful is trying many other country’s cuisines.
I kind of struggled a bit as a writer, but my very best writing was when I wrote from the heart and didn’t try to sound fancy. I tried to be as natural as possible.
* * *
You can buy Lindsay’s cookbooks from The Cookbook Store in Toronto. Here’s a short video interview with Lindsay and a list of her books for sale there.
And fellow Canadians, I’m delighted to announce that I’ll be in Toronto November 23, 2013, teaching a one-day class on food writing at the offices of Harper Collins Canada. I hope you’ll join me.
(Disclosure: This post contains an affiliate link.)
Thanks, I hadn’t heard of her before and she sounds great. Makes a lot of sense, some tenets I also subscribe to – it’s all about finding that happy middle ground when writing a cookbook, not always easy to do. I’m going to take a look at one of her books.
She is terrific, Cathy. No nonsense and very practical. You will enjoy her books.
Someone gave me a copy of Anne Lindsay’s Lighthearted Everyday Cooking, probably in the year it was published, 1991, and I’ve been using it ever since. How fresh and new her concept was at the time. I remember talking to neighbours who also had her book, and recommending it to others. Her recipes weren’t just healthy, but interesting and delicious, calling for ingredients that weren’t all that common at the time. Later, I purchased her Lighthearted Cookbook.
Anne Lindsay was tremendously influential for me, and of course her association with Canadian LIving magazine only added to her credibility. Oh, what it meant to have a Canadian magazine with Canadian recipes — it may be hard to imagine just how alien those American magazines aimed at housewives were.
Canadian Living and Anne Lindsay were all about real cooking with real ingredients, the Canadian ethos and, especially in Anne’s books, healthy food that didn’t come across that way.
Thank you for sharing your interview with Anne Lindsay. She’s a true Canadian hero!
Marlene, so glad you had a similar experience. I remember reading Canadian Living when I visited my mum. It was always delivered to her doorstep for free.
Yes, if I failed to mention it, her recipes were delicious, with lots of flavorful twists on old classics and new dishes to try from other countries.
You continue to inform and inspire with your awesome posts. Thank you for all you do, Dianne. Love the new look of your website, too. Less is definitely more!
xo from 90210
Wow, Dana. Thank you. So glad you like the new website too. Great to hear from you.
How wonderful!!! I will have to check out her books. It is so great when our passion is recognized. 🙂
I’m sure she’s received lots of recognition in Canada, but not here in the US. She deserves it!
I’ve not heard of her here in Australia – I’m off now to look at her online recipes, thanks Dianne!
You’re not alone — I bet most of my readers have not heard of her here in the US. I love to point out an exceptional talent.
Brilliant Interview.
Thank you so much for this, Dianne!
I will be contacting her as soon as possible, but first, I do believe I will just have to make that pea soup!
Sincerely,
Valerie
Thanks Valerie. I know that soup will turn out well.
Once again, Dianne, I am grateful for your informational posts. I look forward to learning more about cook book author Anne Lindsay and her tremendous success in sales of her books.
The description of your “weathered and stained” cook books on shelf indicates these are the really good cook books for recipes made often. My kind of cook books 🙂
Regards,
The Souper at
Prep2eat
Thank you. From the comments, I am not sure if my American colleagues care much when I write about people from other countries, so I appreciate having you share your thoughts. Her recipes are great to study if you’re a food blogger or cookbook author.
Thank you, Dianne, for bringing Anne to our attention. I made her Moroccan chicken stew today – and I’m hooked! Just bought two of her books and can’t wait to cook through them.
Layne, wow, you made my day. This is beyond my expectations of what would happen as a result of this post. Thank you. I hope you enjoy her cookbooks.
Do you know of a recipe by an Alberta mom and her daughters for irrestible tea biscuits. Any info would be appreciated
No I’m sorry I don’t, George.
I just cooked dijon chicken tonight, something I have made many times. The cookbook is called Smart Cooking by Anne Lindsay, from the 80’s :). Used that book so, so many times. And yes stained and messy 🙂