Hello! My name is Emily Weiskopf-Ball. I’m a PhD graduate from Laurentian University’s Human Studies program during which time I published a number of peer-reviewed articles and my dissertation: Baking Power: French-Canadian and Franco-Ontarian cultural identity as defined by evolving traditional foodways in Astorville, Ontario.

This blog is something I’ve been thinking about since finishing my dissertation in 2018. I realize that very few people will go read a 300+ paper they can only find online (even with a super catchy and way-too-long title like “Baking Power: French-Canadian and Franco-Ontarian Cultural Identity as Defined by Evolving Traditional Foodways in Astorville, Ontario”) so Franglisch Foods is a chance for me to share what I learnt during my research of the evolving traditional French-Canadian/Franco-Ontarian foodways of Astorville, Ontario (Canada) as well as the reflections that have been percolating in the 5+ years since I graduated.  

Food is tied to ritual, religion, land, language, expressions, economics, habits, hardship, happiness and much, much more. While this site is primarily dedicated to French-Canadian/Franco-Ontarian traditional foods, I hope it will be become an online community focused on sharing stories centred around food in a myriad of forms – academic, poetic, narrative, artistic… any form people would like to contribute.  

Food is power. Food is identity. Food is resistance. Food is negotiation. Ultimately, food is everything.  

I hope you’ll enjoy exploring its power with me! 

P.S. For those who worry that I have misspelt Franglisch by putting an “a” instead of an “e” and “c” in front of the “h,” please put your red pens back in their pencil cases and rest assured. While I cannot promise that there will never be any spelling mistakes on this site, both these “mistakes” are not mistakes at all. The title, like this blog, asks readers to consider how one negotiates the difference between expectations and reality when cultures meet.