Canada’s best-selling cookbook author Jean Paré dies in Edmonton at 95

Jean Paré, a farm girl from a small village in rural Alberta, who achieved worldwide fame for her The company is coming cookbook series, passed away.

Paré died in Edmonton on Christmas Eve at the age of 95.

Raised in Irma, Alberta, about 180 kilometers east of Edmonton, Paré and her family built a publishing house over three generations where she wrote more than 200 The company is coming cookbooks.

By the time she retired in 2011, around 30 million copies had been sold.

In 2004, Paré was made a Member of the Order of Canada.

« My grandmother loved to cook and it didn’t have to be fancy food, it was just good food. And she was always very good at serving her specific guests, » Amanda Lovig Hagg told CBC News on Monday.

« Obviously, cooking and recipes is what she’s famous for, but that certainly wasn’t all that mattered in her life. In fact, she didn’t start The company is coming until she hits 50.

Born in 1927, Paré launched a career in food after her first divorce forced her to start over, her granddaughter said.

She opened a cafe in Vermilion, Alberta, where she met her second husband, before moving into a restaurant business which she ran for 18 years.

« She’s done massive events and still didn’t do anything fancy but everything was delicious, » said Lovig Hagg, who worked in the family business for many years.

“Everyone lined up after the events to ask her for recipes and she spent hours writing down the recipes on paper to anyone who asked for the square recipe or the dressing recipe.

« And that’s when my dad said, ‘You know mum, I’m going to quit my job. You quit this restaurant thing and let’s write a cookbook. « »

Paré had a successful career in the restaurant business for nearly 20 years before starting Company’s Coming Publishing in 1980 with his son, Grant Lovig.

‘The Queen of Vermilion’

A family friend, Steve Coates, said Paré was « a motherly, calm and by no means bossy figure, a very typical Alberta farmer, and yet in a room she was a force. »

« I mean, Jean’s success came from her incredible drive and determination and you can feel it in the room, » Coates said.

Coates first met Paré when he and his family moved in opposite Lovig in Sherwood Park in 1985. Paré immediately treated them like family, he said.

He remembers going to fall fairs with Paré.

« It was like following the queen of Vermilion, » Coates said.

« Particularly in northern Alberta, she was a celebrity and people at these fairs, who had not seen her for a long time, but remembered her as a farmer from Irma, approached her. her as if they were approaching the queen.

« It was something to see, very respectful and respectful. And of course she treated them as if she had seen them in church that morning. »

Lovig Hagg said her grandmother cultivated her love for cooking from an early age after she and her sister shared the household chores.

Lovig Hagg said Paré loved traveling with her family, supported many foster children around the world, and never ceased to be amazed at the impact she had on others.

« Every time she got a fan letter, or someone stopped her in public who recognized her, she was surprised every time, » she said.

« [She was] always really happy to meet them and replied to every letter she ever received. »

Paré first book, 150 delicious squareswas released in 1981, followed by other popular titles such as 30 minute weekday meal and 5 Ingredient Slow Cooker Recipes.