''I'd Rather Be Baking Cookies: A Collection of Recipes from Lisa MacLeod and Friends'' is a

cookbook A cookbook or cookery book is a kitchen reference containing recipes. Cookbooks may be general, or may specialize in a particular cuisine or category of food. Recipes in cookbooks are organized in various ways: by course (food), course (appetize ...

written by Canadian politician

Lisa MacLeod Lisa Anne MacLeod (born 1974) is a Canadian politician who represented Nepean in the Legislative Assembly of Ontario. Elected in 2006, MacLeod is a member of the Progressive Conservative (PC) Party. She previously served as the Ontario minist ...

, who is the member of the

Legislative Assembly of Ontario The Legislative Assembly of Ontario (OLA; ) is the legislative chamber of the Canadian province of Ontario. Its elected members are known as Members of Provincial Parliament (MPPs). Bills passed by the Legislative Assembly are given royal as ...

for Nepean—Carleton. The book contains recipes from members of MacLeod's riding and from members of Canadian federal and provincial conservative political parties.

Content

The cookbook contains recipes supplied by members of MacLeod's constituency, of the

Progressive Conservative Party of Ontario The Progressive Conservative Party of Ontario (PC; ), often shortened to the Ontario PC Party, or simply the PCs, colloquially known as the Tories, is a Centre-right politics, centre-right political party in Ontario, Canada. During its uninterr ...

(her own party), and of the federal

Conservative Party of Canada The Conservative Party of Canada (CPC; , ), sometimes referred to as the Tories, is a Government of Canada, federal List of political parties in Canada, political party in Canada. It was formed in 2003 by the merger of the two main Right-wing ...

. The book's recipes include

chickpea The chickpea or chick pea (''Cicer arietinum'') is an annual plant, annual legume of the family (biology), family Fabaceae, subfamily Faboideae, cultivated for its edible seeds. Its different types are variously known as gram," Bengal gram, ga ...

curry Curry is a dish with a sauce or gravy seasoned with spices, mainly derived from the interchange of Indian cuisine with European taste in food, starting with the Portuguese, followed by the Dutch and British, and then thoroughly internatio ...

from

Jason Kenney Jason Thomas Kenney (born May 30, 1968) is a former Canadian politician who served as the 18th premier of Alberta from 2019 until 2022, and the leader of the United Conservative Party (UCP) from 2017 until 2022. He also served as the member o ...

(a cabinet minister from

Calgary Calgary () is a major city in the Canadian province of Alberta. As of 2021, the city proper had a population of 1,306,784 and a metropolitan population of 1,481,806 making it the third-largest city and fifth-largest metropolitan area in C ...

who has the nickname "curry in a hurry"). Minister of National Defence and Member of Parliament from

Nova Scotia Nova Scotia is a Provinces and territories of Canada, province of Canada, located on its east coast. It is one of the three Maritime Canada, Maritime provinces and Population of Canada by province and territory, most populous province in Atlan ...

Peter MacKay Peter Gordon MacKay (born September 27, 1965), a Canadian lawyer and politician, served as Member of Parliament (Canada), Member of Parliament from 1997 to 2015 and as Minister of Justice (Canada), Minister of Justice and Attorney General (20 ...

supplied a recipe for

lobster bisque Bisque () is a smooth, creamy, highly seasoned soup of French origin, classically based on a strained broth (coulis) of crustaceans. It can be made from lobster, langoustine, crab, shrimp, or crawfish. The French bisque is one of the most popul ...

, while

Prime Minister A prime minister or chief of cabinet is the head of the cabinet and the leader of the ministers in the executive branch of government, often in a parliamentary or semi-presidential system. A prime minister is not the head of state, but r ...

Stephen Harper Stephen Joseph Harper (born April 30, 1959) is a Canadian politician who served as the 22nd prime minister of Canada from 2006 to 2015. He is to date the only prime minister to have come from the modern-day Conservative Party of Canada, ser ...

shared his wife's

salsa Salsa most often refers to: * Salsa (food), a variety of sauces used as condiments * Salsa music, a popular style of Latin American music * Salsa (dance), a Latin dance associated with Salsa music Salsa or SALSA may also refer to: Arts and ent ...

recipe. The cover features MacLeod dressed like

Betty Crocker Betty Crocker is a brand and fictional character used in advertising campaigns for food and recipes. The character was created by the Washburn-Crosby Company in 1921 to give a personalized response to consumer product questions. In 1954, Gener ...

, holding a tray of cookies.

Background and title

During the 2007 Ontario election,

Liberal Liberal or liberalism may refer to: Politics * Generally, a supporter of the political philosophy liberalism. Liberals may be politically left or right but tend to be centrist. * An adherent of a Liberal Party (See also Liberal parties by country ...

blog A blog (a Clipping (morphology), truncation of "weblog") is an informational website consisting of discrete, often informal diary-style text entries also known as posts. Posts are typically displayed in Reverse chronology, reverse chronologic ...

ger

Warren Kinsella Warren James Kinsella (born August 1960) is a Canadian lawyer, author, musician, political consultant, and Pundit (expert), commentator. Kinsella has written commentary in most of Canada's major newspapers and several magazines, including ''Th ...

published an altered photograph of MacLeod,

John Tory John Howard Tory (born May 28, 1954) is a Canadian lawyer, broadcaster, businessman, and former politician who served as the 65th mayor of Toronto from 2014 to 2023. He served as leader of the Official Opposition in Ontario from 2005 to 2007 ...

, and Scott Reid listening to Randy Hillier (another Canadian politician) speak. He placed thought bubbles over each of the listeners' heads, with MacLeod's suggesting that she would rather be baking cookies than attending the event. MacLeod, however, was visiting her father at that time, who was ill with cancer. Following backlash from other political candidates, Kinsella issued an apology, and noted that the joke did not go over well with his wife. The resulting media attention led MacLeod to compile the recipes. Proceeds benefitted her re-election campaign.

References

2010 non-fiction books Canadian cookbooks Canadian political books Progressive Conservative Party of Ontario {{Food-book-stub