More Than A Cookbook, the historic Leith church’s cookbook, has a wonderful chapter filled with recipes for fish. There’s Margaret Howard’s baked fish with mushroom rice stuffing, Rosemary McLean’s cold poached salmon, and thyme for trout by David Sereda. And that’s not all. Tom Thomson, the famed Canadian artist, grew up in Leith, fishing its streams and the nearby bay. The Thomsons lived on a farm and were members of Leith Church. Thomson, who died in a canoeing accident in 1917, is buried in the Leith churchyard.
Equally symbolic of Tom Thomson with his palette and brushes are photographs of the artist with his daily catch. From a very early age he was a skilled angler, both on Owen Sound bay, in Telfer Creek and in Algonquin Park. Catching fish, setting up camp, making a fire and cooking a meal were all part of his daily routine, whether by himself on one of his solo painting trips or as a guide for tourists in the park.
Tom’s sister once wrote in a letter, “I can see him yet as a small boy, with a string of tiny fish caught in the creek, which he would clean, then smoke in a link of stove-pipe and I still remember how delicious they were.” A childhood friend, Alan Ross, also recalled Tom as a sportsman. “He seemed to be one of these people who were born with a shot gun in one hand and a fishing rod in the other.”
A fellow employee at Grip remembered Thomson’s camp cooking. “Our lake trout was boiled and baked, not fried.” Fellow painter A. Y. Jackson recalled that Thomson was equally happy when he caught a big trout, when his bannock turned out well, or when he brought back a gorgeous sketch.
Originally aired April 14th 2016
Comments