Darrell Greer
Northern News Services

Baker Lake (June 01/05) - About 250 people turned out for the launching of the Qamanituaq Cooks cookbook in Baker Lake recently.

The attractive, easily read book is the brainchild of the Baker Lake Prenatal Nutrition Project.

Hilu Tagoona presents a Qamanituaq Cooks cookbook to Baker Lake MLA David Simailak just in time for barbecue season.

Written in both Inuktitut and English, the illustrated book covers a wide-range of tasty cooking choices for those who like to eat healthy.

Production and distribution of the cookbook were funded by Health Canada.

Project co-ordinator Laurel Krueger said the idea for the book originated from a weekly prenatal/postnatal cooking class, which staff members have been conducting in Baker for the past 10 years.

She said staff members received a lot of input and ideas for the book from class participants during the past decade.

"Different people, from time to time, would suggest that it would be a good idea to put our recipes together and use them in a cookbook," said Krueger.

"So, about six years ago, we had a little extra time on our hands and began putting the recipes into a cookbook-style format.

"From there, we'd work on it a bit whenever we had some spare time, so it took us about six years to complete."

Qamanituaq Cooks recipes are based on locally available nutritious ingredients, including country foods.

While a local launch party was held more than a month ago, mail distribution of the cookbook around Nunavut has just been completed.

Copies have been mailed to outlets such as prenatal nutrition programs, health centres and health promotion officers.

The cookbook is intended to help families eat healthy, tasty meals.

Food safety

Krueger said the book also contains lots of information on how to cook, including food safety and ingredient substitutions.

She said there are 50 recipes for drinks, snacks, buns, soups, main dishes and desserts.

"The ingredients listed are nutritious, available locally and economical.

"In fact, many recipes include country foods such as caribou, fish or blueberries.

"The instructions are easy to follow, even for cooks who are just learning."