Stunning New Cookbook Gives Back in a Big Way

Feb. 28, 2013 - PRLog -- Media Contact: Paola Di Clemente, paola@grafmartin.com  or 519-342-3703 x5

Waterloo (Feb.26, 2013) - When Mennonite Girls Can Cook released in 2011, the authors had no idea that there would be such an outpouring of support from their faithful readers, or that the book would become a Canadian bestseller. With readers around the world ready for a second course, Herald Press is pleased to announce the May 2013 release of Celebrations.

Drawing on the recipes passed down from their ancestors, Lovella Schellenberg along with Anneliese Friesen, Betty Reimer, Bev Klassen, Charlotte Penner, Ellen Bayles, Judy Wiebe, Julie Klassen, Kathy McLellan, and Marg Bartel have selected their favorites for Mennonite Girls Can Cook Celebrations.  
The women share a common heritage that goes back several generations to Russia and the Ukraine. As Canadian Mennonites, their grandparents emigrated from Russia in the 1920s and 1930s. They were displaced from their homes, separated from their family members, experienced firsthand the terrors of war and labor camps and travelled as refugees to a new land.

“We’ve opened our overstuffed recipe boxes and carefully documented the traditional recipes that our Mennonite grandmothers had just quickly jotted down without accurate measurements or memorized. Documenting these recipes is our way of honoring and sharing our unique heritage with others” said Lovella Schellenberg.

Each of the 118 recipes found in Celebrations are traditional, family favorites made in honor of a specific celebration, from baby showers and weddings to the holidays and celebrations of life. Filled with personal family stories and beautiful photos, this full-color book contains much more than recipes- something that the ladies’ thousands of faithful blog followers appreciate.

In 2008, British Columbia-based Lovella Schellenberg began a blog where she intended to post her mother’s recipes. She soon welcomed recipes from nine other women from British Columbia, Manitoba and Washington State with Mennonite backgrounds. Today, the Mennonite Girls Can Cook blog has received over 6 million visitors- with 7, 000 faithful readers coming back to this blog daily.

Early on in the blogging and book publishing process, the women decided that they would extend their gift of hospitality to feeding hungry children and giving back to the organization that helped their ancestors in Russia and the Ukraine. The overwhelming success of the first book allowed the women to donate a greenhouse to the Good Shepherd Shelter in the Ukraine. All book royalties for the new Celebrations cookbook will be disbursed through Mennonite Central Committee to provide clean drinking water for people in Africa.

“The decision was never whether we should donate the book royalties or not. The decision we had to make was which organization to give it to. We wanted to do something that honoured our heritage. Mennonite Central Committee helped our families in Russia and when they came out of Russia. This is our way to give back,” said Lovella.

While it’s true that these “Mennonite girls sure can cook,” the story behind the book also reveals ten women who have a vision to extend their gifts far beyond the kitchen table while honoring their ancestry.

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Herald Press is the book publishing imprint of MennoMedia, a ministry of the Mennonite Church Canada and Mennonite Church USA. Herald Press aims to publish books from an Anabaptist perspective that are honest in presentation, clear in thought, stimulating in content, and that lead to the spiritual growth and welfare of the reader. For more information please www.heraldpress.com

HARDCOVER ISBN -10: 0836196759

HARDCOVER ISBN- 13: 978-0836196757

208 pages, 8” x 10” Hardback, full-colour