Dr. Caroline Durand’s first book, Nourrir la machine humaine is catching people’s attention – recently  named a finalist for the 2016 Canada Prizes from the Federation for the Humanities and Social Sciences, an award which celebrates the best Canadian scholarly books that make an exceptional contribution to scholarship, are engagingly written, and enrich the social, cultural and intellectual life of Canada.

Professor Durand, a faculty member at Trent since the fall of 2011 in the History and Canadian Studies departments, is included as a finalist in the Canada Prize in Humanities, French Category, for her book which looks at how nutrition has contributed to the modernization of Quebec in a period marked by industrialization, urbanization, two world wars, and a major economic crash.

"I am proud of my first book, and very happy to be a finalist,” said Prof. Durand. “I am especially happy that my book is part of a bilingual series of Studies on the History of Quebec, which include works by several prominent historians. I feel privileged to be in such great intellectual company.” 

Prof. Durand comments that her new book makes her research accessible to not only other historians but also to experts of other disciplines, and more broadly, to anyone interested in food. She hopes it will provoke reactions and questions about the food we eat. She brought parts of this research into the classroom at Trent, in her course "Food in History" and hopes that other instructors in Canada will find useful content for their own courses.

Prof. Durand’s current research focuses on food and nutrition since 1945, and focuses on the impacts and interactions of multiple phenomenon’s that changed food habits and policies on nutrition in Canada such as the creation of a provincial welfare state in Quebec, the increasing presence of women in the paid workforce, and a raising concern for environmental questions.

The winners of the 2016 Canada Prizes will be announced on April 11 and the prizes, each valued at $2,500, will be presented at an awards ceremony to be held during the 2016 Congress of the Humanities and Social Sciences at the University of Calgary. Read more about Prof. Durand’s new book here at Radio Canada.