If tomrrow’s DVD release of Julie & Julia is inspiring you to cook, don’t forget there was a Ukrainian Canadian version who paved the way for her prairie peers with her own brand of Ukrainian cooking, art, history and grammar books more than half a century ago:

Savella Stechishin (née Wawryniuk) worked to secure the integration of Ukrainian Canadian women into Canadian society while maintaining their Ukrainian heritage. Encyclopedia of Saskatchewan

Savella Stechishin was born in Tudorkovychi, Lviv Oblast, of Western Ukraine (Galicia), and her family emigrated to Canada in 1913, settling in Krydor, Saskatchewan. At age 17 she married Julian Stechyshyn, rector of the Petro Mohyla Institute in Saskatoon, and later bore three children, Anatole, Myron, and Zenia. She completed high school and teachers college, and obtained a Bachelor of Arts degree specializing in Home Economics from the University of Saskatchewan in 1930, the first Ukrainian woman to receive a degree there. Wikipedia

She was the first Ukrainian Canadian woman to graduate from the University of Saskatchewan (1930), and the first Ukrainian woman in canada to graduate with a specialization in home economics. Ukrainian Weekly

She led an amazing life, heading up many womens’ organizations and stressing the importance of health and nutrition. She has had so many accomplishments in her life I couldn’t find the time to summarize them all, so I encourage you to read the Ukrainian Weekly article about her life and death – it’s quite amazing.

Shechishin’s most prominent book is the English-language Traditional Ukrainian Cookery (1957), which saw its eighteenth reprinting in 1995 and has sold 80,000 copies. Her other books are in Ukrainian: Art Treasures of Ukrainian Embroidery (1950), and a 50th anniversary book for the Saskatoon branch of the Ukrainian Women’s Association (1975). She assisted her husband, Julian Stechishin, with a Ukrainian Grammar (1951), and completed his History of Ukrainian Settlement in Canada (1971) after his death—an English translation was published in 1992. Ukrainian Weekly

These books are unfortunately out of print, with no republishing date scheduled in the near future. If you are lucky enough to have a copy of these books, please treasure them and make sure to put them to good use. If you can’t find Traditional Ukrainian Cookery at your local used bookstore or library there are some recipes scattered across the internet – definitely a good resource to have for Christmas!

Here’s one of her recipes re-published in The pioneer cook : a historical view of Canadian Prairie food:

A biography about her life is also available: Blossoming of a Ukrainian Canadian Savella Stechishin

With Sony unveiling a new ebook reader across Canada last weekend, I stumbled upon an e-book repository called Our Roots that is a Canadian initiative to digitize books that cover Canada’s diverse nationalities and Ukraine is quite represented!

There were so many books on the Ukrainian Canadian experience that I couldn’t possibly list them all (but that shouldn’t stop you from trying). Here are some notable ones I’ve come across:

 Svieto : celebrating Ukrainian-Canadian ritual in east central Alberta through the generations

  Ukrainian people places : the Ukrainians, Germans, Mennonites, Hutterites and Doukhobors and the names they brought to Saskatchewan

Ukrainian Pioneer Days in Early Years 1898-1916 in Alvena and District, Sask.

Ukrainian rite Catholic Church : an account of church activities in Calgary

Ukrainian vernacular architecture in Alberta

Vita : a Ukrainian community : it’s background and beginnings.

Maple leaf and trident : the Ukrainian Canadians during the second World War

Heroes of their day : the reminiscences of Bohdan Panchuk

Hawaiian ordeal : Ukrainian contract workers, 1897-1910

Pioneer profiles : Ukrainian settlers in Manitoba

Hardships & progress of Ukrainian pioneers : memoirs from Stuartburn colony and other points

Spruce, swamp and stone : a history of the pioneer Ukranian settlements in the Gimli area

Reflections and reminiscences : Ukrainians in Canada, 1892-1992

Multiculturalism and Ukrainian Canadians : identity, homeland ties, and the community’s future

Between two worlds : the memoirs of Stanley Frolick

Galicia and Bukovina : a research handbook about Western Ukraine, late 19th and 20th centuries

From the Edmonton Sun:

Alberta is a rich bastion of Ukrainian heritage, full of stories that Danny Evanishen says need preserving.

But he’s worried those memories are fading.

In fact, he guesses that there may be nobody left in the entire region who saw firsthand the development of the West by Ukrainian immigrants, some coming as late as the 1930s.

“If they came in 1930, and they were 20 years old at the time, how old does that make them now? 90?” said Evanishen, who lives in Summerland, B.C.

He’s spent nearly 20 years collecting stories directly from pioneers.

Evanishen is now looking to add more volumes to more than a dozen books he’s penned retelling tales and fables of the Ukrainian immigrant culture. He wants to hear stories that have been passed down through the generations.

You can find the rest of his Ukrainian and Ukrainian-Canadian books here.

Earlier this week I noticed on Amazon.ca that this book was listed as ‘Ukranian Cooking’.  Luckily it was very easy to fix, at the bottom of the product page under the ‘Feedback’ section you can update the product information.  I went to the page and filled out the form with the correct information and in a few days it was processed and I got my message:

Thank you for using the Catalog Update Form
to send suggestions for Festive Ukranian Cooking
(ASIN 0822936461)

Your update has been accepted and processed. It
will appear online within the next two to three
business days.

Attribute: Title
Current value: Festive Ukranian Cooking
Your suggestion: Festive Ukrainian Cooking

If you want something done you have to do it yourself!  Don’t be afraid to make these corrections, it’s a more common spelling mistake then you think and needs to be corrected.