Jehane Benoît
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Jehane Benoît (; ; March 21, 1904 – November 24, 1987) was a
Canadian Canadians () are people identified with the country of Canada. This connection may be residential, legal, historical or cultural. For most Canadians, many (or all) of these connections exist and are collectively the source of their being ''C ...
culinary author, speaker, commentator, journalist and broadcaster. Benoît was born into a wealthy family in
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, Quebec, with a father and grandfather who were food connoisseurs. After studying at the Sorbonne and
Le Cordon Bleu Le Cordon Bleu (; French: " The Blue Ribbon"; LCB) is a French hospitality and culinary education institution, teaching haute cuisine. Its educational focuses are hospitality management, culinary arts, and gastronomy. The institution consists ...
cooking school in Paris, she started her own cooking school, ''Fumet de la Vieille France'', in
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. She also opened one of Canada's first vegetarian restaurants, "The Salad Bar", in 1935.


Life

Best known as "Madame Benoît," she wrote 30 books during her career, including the ''Encyclopedia of Canadian Cuisine'' (currently
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). She appeared regularly on
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's ''
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'' and later became a proponent of microwave cookery, writing several books on the subject as well as appearing in television commercials for
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microwaves. Benoît introduced traditional Québécois menu items to English-speaking Canadians, including the meat pie known in French as the Quebec Tourtière, Benoît's "iconic dish". She has been described by CBC's Joanne Bayly as a 1960s phenomenon.
In the 1950s, 60s and 70s, Benoît was Canada's cook. In both French and charmingly accented English, she was on radio and television, trying to improve how Canadians ate and how they cooked.
In 1973, she was made an Officer of the
Order of Canada The Order of Canada () is a Canadian state order, national order and the second-highest Award, honour for merit in the system of orders, decorations, and medals of Canada, after the Order of Merit. To coincide with the Canadian Centennial, ce ...
"for her contribution to this art in Canada". In 2012, Marguerite Paulin and Marie Desjardins published Jehane Benoît's biography
À la découverte de Jehane Benoît, le roman de la grande dame de la cuisine canadienne
'.


Selected works

* Benoît, J. (1963). ''Encyclopedia of Canadian Cuisine''. Les Messageries du Saint Laurent. * Benoît, J. (1964). ''Secrets et recettes du cahier de ma grand'mère''. Éditions Beauchemin. * Benoit, J. (1970). ‘’The Canadiana Cookbook’’. Pagurian Press Ltd * Benoit, J. (1987). ''Microwave Food Fun''. Saint-Lambert, Québec: Héritage.


Television series

*'' The Young Chefs'' (1976)


References


Sources


Order of Canada Citation
* Chrystine Brouillet: ''Jehane Benoît. Canadian cuisine's grande dame,'' in ''Legacy. How French Canadians shaped North America.'' McClelland & Stewart, Toronto 2016; réimpr. 2019 () p 259-278 * (in French) in: ''Bâtisseurs d'Amérique: Des canadiens français qui ont faite de l'histoire.'' Dir.
André Pratte André Pratte (born May 12, 1957) is a Canadian journalist and former senator who represented the De Salaberry division in Quebec. Before being appointed to the Senate by Prime Minister Justin Trudeau on March 18, 2016, Pratte was a journalist fo ...
,
Jonathan Kay Jonathan Hillel Kay (born 1968) is a Canadian journalist. He was the editor-in-chief of ''The Walrus'' (2014–2017), and is a senior editor of ''Quillette''. He was previously comment pages editor, columnist, and blogger for the Toronto-based Ca ...
. Éd. La Presse, Montréal 2016, p 125-146


External links


Jehane Benoît
at
The Canadian Encyclopedia ''The Canadian Encyclopedia'' (TCE; ) is the national encyclopedia of Canada, published online by the Toronto-based historical organization Historica Canada, with financial support by the federal Department of Canadian Heritage and Society of Com ...
{{DEFAULTSORT:Benoit, Jehane 1904 births 1987 deaths Canadian cookbook writers Canadian television chefs Officers of the Order of Canada Writers from Montreal 20th-century Canadian non-fiction writers 20th-century Canadian women writers Canadian women non-fiction writers Canadian women chefs