Saskatchewan quarantine project cooks up a museum-worthy impact

It all started as a way to help her kids learn how to cook over the lockdown.

Now it’s making waves as a museum-worthy cookbook.

Dawna Doell is the creator of The Official Quarantine Cookbook.

When her kids’ school closed down due to COVID-19, Doell wanted to teach her kids practical skills through cooking. She started the Facebook page The Official Quarantine Cookbook for people all across the world to submit recipes and cooking advice.

“It grew into this big community,” she said. “We now have … I think 68,000 members worldwide.”

The page grew so popular that one day Doell’s Facebook group suggested she turn the recipes into a cookbook.

“A lot and a lot of hours later, we compiled recipes from the page — the ones that were used the most, shared the most, liked the most, and the ones that kind of had a pandemic pantry in mind,” she said. “So things that were easy to find (and) easy to source.”

Now, the group has not just one cookbook but three — the Official Quarantine Cookbook, The Second Wave and We Can Make It. All three volumes are available online or at The Hobnobber and Turning the Tide in Saskatoon.

The book’s website calls the project “The Global Kitchen That Gives Back” because chunks of the proceeds go to many different charities.

Book one donated $55,000 to Wounded Warriors Canada and the Canadian Mental Health Association.

Book two raised $23,500 for Empty Arms and Size Small Dog Rescue.

And book three is still collecting funds for the Big Brothers & Sisters of Humboldt.

Now the first volume of the series is headed to The Western Development Museum in Saskatoon.

“It was accepted and submitted to be included in The Western Development Museum’s permanent collection,” Doell said. “I’ve also been approached by the University of Saskatchewan and it is going to be in the archives there.

“There is a national museum actually in Gatineau, (Que.), that has also approached me and that’s the Canadian Museum of History, so that’s the largest museum in Canada.”

But the question remains: As the pandemic is coming to a close, will there be a fourth and final book for the series?

“When we started the page, I had no idea I was going to make a cookbook,” Doell said. “When we made book one, I swore I’d never make a book two. When I made a book two, I swore I’d never make a book three, and I said I’d never re-release book one and two and all of those things have happened. So I guess we are never going to say never on anything.”

The Facebook page is currently being used to help people of all cooking skills and styles to find help on meals.

“You can get up in the morning and say (on the page), ‘Hey, I pulled out chicken for supper tonight. What should I do with it?,’” Doell said. “And within 10 minutes, you’ll have every idea under the sun possible.”

Now everyone has access through the family-friendly Facebook page to spend some time together cooking all different types of meals from all over the world.

“You never know when you might want to make a Guinness beef chocolate pie, which I wasn’t so sure of until I made it,” Doell said. “Absolutely amazing!”

— Article by 650 CKOM’s Payton Zillich. With files from 650 CKOM’s Sheena Roszell