Edna Staebler


Edna Staebler was a Canadian writer and literary journalist, best known for her series of cookbooks, particularly Food That Really Schmecks. While the book contains Mennonite recipes, the content also includes stories and anecdotes about life and home cooking in the rural areas of the Waterloo Region.

Life

Edna Staebler was born in Berlin, Ontario in 1906 and grew up there.
Edna's birth certificate shows her name was originally registered as Cora Margaret Cress and later changed,, to Edna Louisa Cress. She was the daughter of machinist, John Gerp Cress and Louise Cress who were married 15 July 1903.
Staebler received a BA from the University of Toronto and a teacher's certificate from the Ontario College of Education. Staebler married in 1933, but divorced in 1962. Beginning in 1948, she wrote articles for Maclean's, Chatelaine, Saturday Night, Reader's Digest, Star Weekly and other newspapers and magazines; she has also written non-fiction with Canadian themes. In 1991, she established an award for creative non-fiction, awarded annually by Wilfrid Laurier University. Staebler was awarded membership to the Order of Canada in 1996.
She died of a stroke in Waterloo, Ontario, in 2006 at the age of 100.
A biography, To Experience Wonder, Edna Staebler: A Life, was written by Veronica Ross; a collection of her diaries, Must Write, edited by Christl Verduyn, was published in 2005.

Other books by Edna Staebler

In addition to Food that Really Schmecks, Stabler is also the author of the following:
  • Sauerkraut and Enterprise. University Women's Club of Kitchener-Waterloo, 1967; Toronto: McClelland and Stewart, 1969.
  • Cape Breton Harbour. Toronto: McClelland and Stewart, 1972; Toronto: McGraw-Hill Ryerson, 1990.
  • More Food That Really Schmecks. Toronto: McClelland and Stewart, 1979.
  • Haven't Any News: Ruby's Letters from the '50s. Edited by Edna Staebler. Waterloo: Wilfrid Laurier University Press, 1995.
  • Whatever Happened to Maggie and Other People I've Known. Toronto: McClelland and Stewart, 1983.
  • Schmecks Appeal. More Mennonite Cooking. Toronto: McClelland and Stewart, 1987.

    Awards received by Edna Staebler

In addition to the Order of Canada, Staebler also received the following awards: