Steinbach city councillor Jac Siemens has shared a story about the unique history of a cookbook called the Mennonite Treasury of Recipes which was launched in Steinbach in 1961. It was Siemens' turn to do the opening at city council last week which is where he related the tale. He says in 1960, when the population of Steinbach was just over 3,700, the city hosted the Canadian Mennonite Conference which brought 3,000 delegates to Steinbach. The meetings were held in a tent on the site of what later became the T.G. Smith Centre.

"As part of the hosting, they needed places to stay as well as to be fed. I can't imagine where they were all hosted for night. Besides the Steinbach Mennonite and Bergthaler Churches in Steinbach, Niverville, Grunthal, Arnaud and Ste. Elizabeth Mennonite Churches and their women's groups all helped in the food preparations. During the planning and making of food, one of the leaders, Mrs. Katie Warkentin, told everyone to keep their recipes in case they would like to host this type of event again. At first the plan was to print the recipes on sheet paper and then send them out to all the women from other churches who would request them. Then they thought, well why not include, with those recipes, some favourite Mennonite dishes as they were different in different parts of Canada."

Siemens says another leader, Anna Rosenfeld, then took the paperwork to her brother, Eugene Derksen, who owned Derksen Printers, asking him to print 500 copies. Siemens adds, Derksen then encouraged his sister to print a cookbook and the idea was born.

"They sent letters to request recipes from (Mennonite) congregations across Canada and the U.S. Then they sorted and they translated and they had to type it and proof-read it and do all the other things that come with producing a cookbook. Many recipes came in listing a pinch of this or that, or a handful of flour and then the famous statement, mix to the right consistency. So some recipes had to be tested to make sure that they worked as they translated everything to measurements like teaspoons, tablespoons and cups. It took 14 months of collecting, testing, writing and proof-reading, all to get ready for printing."

Siemens says the women wanted to print 500 copies but Eugene Derksen convinced them to print 3,000. They went on sale for Christmas of 1961 and were sold out within three months.

"According to Dr. Royden Loewen, who is our local Mennonite professor, this was one of the top three best-selling Mennonite literature books of all time, surpassing a book like Martyr's Mirror. But it was recently passed by two other best-sellers of Mennonite books, Miriam Toews', An Uncomplicated Kindness and the other now-famous cookbook, Mennonite Girls Can Cook. If you look on E-Bay, you can buy an original copy of the Mennonite Treasury cookbook for $154."

Siemens adds about 96,000 copies of the cookbook have been sold over the years which has raised about $55,000 dollars for missions projects.