Margo Oliver introduced fine cuisine to Canada

Advertisement

Advertise with us

MARGO Oliver, whose name was once synonymous with fine food and cooking, has died. She was 87.

Read this article for free:

or

Already have an account? Log in here »

To continue reading, please subscribe:

Monthly Digital Subscription

$0 for the first 4 weeks*

  • Enjoy unlimited reading on winnipegfreepress.com
  • Read the E-Edition, our digital replica newspaper
  • Access News Break, our award-winning app
  • Play interactive puzzles

*No charge for 4 weeks then price increases to the regular rate of $19.00 plus GST every four weeks. Offer available to new and qualified returning subscribers only. Cancel any time.

Monthly Digital Subscription

$4.75/week*

  • Enjoy unlimited reading on winnipegfreepress.com
  • Read the E-Edition, our digital replica newspaper
  • Access News Break, our award-winning app
  • Play interactive puzzles

*Billed as $19 plus GST every four weeks. Cancel any time.

To continue reading, please subscribe:

Add Free Press access to your Brandon Sun subscription for only an additional

$1 for the first 4 weeks*

  • Enjoy unlimited reading on winnipegfreepress.com
  • Read the E-Edition, our digital replica newspaper
  • Access News Break, our award-winning app
  • Play interactive puzzles
Start now

No thanks

*Your next subscription payment will increase by $1.00 and you will be charged $16.99 plus GST for four weeks. After four weeks, your payment will increase to $23.99 plus GST every four weeks.

Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 09/06/2010 (5624 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

MARGO Oliver, whose name was once synonymous with fine food and cooking, has died. She was 87.

From 1959 to 1982 Oliver served as food editor of Weekend Magazine and Today in Montreal. Both publications were in national distribution.

Oliver died Friday in Fergus, Ont., north of Guelph.

CANADIAN PRESS FILE PHOTO
Oliver: Canada’s first ‘Betty Crocker’
CANADIAN PRESS FILE PHOTO Oliver: Canada’s first ‘Betty Crocker’

A native of Winnipeg, she studied home economics at the University of Manitoba. After a year of graduate work at the University of Minnesota, she joined the staff at General Mills in Minneapolis.

When General Mills expanded its operations into Canada, Oliver was chosen as this country’s first "Betty Crocker." In that capacity, she spent four years travelling, appearing on radio and television, speaking to groups and giving cooking demonstrations.

Joining the now defunct Montreal Standard in 1959 as food editor, she had the newspaper build a proper test kitchen where she produced columns and recipes for the magazine.

Besides those duties, Oliver produced seven cookbooks which were happily snapped up by her many fans. These included The Good Food Cookbook, Margo Oliver’s Weekend Magazine Cookbook and Margo Oliver’s Most Treasured Recipes.

Her final cookbook, published in 1989, was Margo Oliver’s Cookbook for Seniors: Nutritious Recipes for One-Two-Or.

In 1993, Oliver was inducted into the Ontario Home Economists in Business Hall of Fame.

During her stint with Weekend Magazine, Oliver met and married Englishman Victor Morgan. In 1982, they retired to Elora, Ont., and spent 12 years together before Morgan died.

 

— The Canadian Press

Report Error Submit a Tip