Ethel Mulvany and her Starving

Prisoners of War Cookbook

Wednesday, November 15, 2023 

1:00 - 3:00 p.m. Via Marzo Italian Restaurant,

854 March Road in Kanata 

* This is part of the History Interest Group's program. To join this group contact the convenor. If you are not a member of CFUW but would like to join us, email cfuwkanata.publicity@gmail.com   We always welcome new members. 

  Suzanne Evans  Ph.D.

Dr. Evans  holds a PhD in Religious Studies.

While working on a post-doctoral fellowship at the Canadian War Museum, she discovered Ethel Mulvany's Starving Prisoners of War Cookbook and began a journey of research that took her from Manitoulin Island to Singapore and on to London. The book has been optioned for a documentary film with production to begin in the spring.

Dr. Evans is also the author of Mothers of Heroes, Mothers of Martyrs: World War l and the Politics of Grief. Her writing, which has appeared in academic and literary journals, newspapers, magazines, and books, has a strong focus on women and war.

Book review May 29, 2022
https://www.canadashistory.ca/explore/books/the-taste-of-longing

Ethel Mulvany and her Starving Prisoners of War Cookbook

Discussion: 

During the Second World War, Ethel Rogers Mulvany, originally from Manitoulin Island, became a prisoner of the Japanese in Singapore's infamous Changi Jail.

Despite hunger, torture and burgeoning mental illness, she was determined to survive and to help her fellow prisoners through creative endeavors such as organizing the creation of the Changi Quilts and by making a recipe collection of all the dishes the starving prisoners regaled each other with.

After liberation, Ethel returned to Canada and fought to build a life for herself.