In 1975, a group of eight friends decided to publish a cookbook.
That may not sound like a big deal nowadays, but it was back then. The friends, all housewives from Alberta, had been playing bridge together for more than a decade and decided to put their favourite recipes together for a special project.
It was the first year of International Women’s Day, and the group wanted to prove they could start a business. It took a lot of work, and they decided to quit at least three times along the way, but finally found themselves in front of a local banker requesting a loan to print 6,000 copies of their book. The banker agreed to the loan and gave the women the paperwork for their husbands to sign.
“And we said ‘No way, this is a women’s year project,’” recalls Mary Halpen, an original member of the group.
Halpen says it took more work to convince the banker but they managed to secure the loan. Their first run of books was printed, and a 40-year enterprise began.
The group had a big backyard party to celebrate the release of their book and thought that was the end of the project. However, they soon started getting calls from people telling them how good the recipes were.
“And we knew they were because we had been playing bridge together for 12 years, so we knew the recipes were good,” says Halpen.
Then local bookstores started asking to carry the book, but there were no more copies to deliver. The entire first run was sold. After much deliberation, it was decided to produce another 15,000 copies of the book.
“The decision to print the next 15,000 was the hardest one,” says Halpen, joking that they sold most of their first run of books to their mothers and sisters. She calls the move a “real leap of faith.”
The women then embarked on their own marketing tour with no experience and no resources. They hit up the local newspapers and radio stations then slowly branched out to neighbouring cities and into B.C. Halpen says they were graciously received for the most part, and she credits that in part to the fact that they were so enthusiastic about their book. Their marketing eventually stretched across the country, and the group of friends shared many road trips that Halpen describes as moving pajama parties full of fun.
When asked why she thinks the book was so popular in those early days, Halpen explains that they were all housewives with young kids then and “these were recipes that we could make at home. They always worked. They were from ingredients that we had in our cupboards for the most part but they all were good.”
The recipes were all tried and tested, she notes. “People just trusted us.”
Four decades later and Halpen is again on a promotion tour for an updated version of the book: Best of Bridge Home Cooking 250 Easy and Delicious Recipes. The book series now has nearly four million copies in print and has been updated numerous times over the years.
“It’s important to stay current,” says Halpen of the many updated versions, noting the recipes have been adjusted over the years to make them more contemporary, such as using more fresh (instead of canned) ingredients, which are more available these days.
The original group of eight now consists of four members. One moved to Vancouver right after the first printing, and three have passed away in recent years. Halpen says her group is a microcosm of other friend groups and has had “everything happen to them” over the years.
These days, Halpen has some more free time. Her husband passed away about five years ago and her kids are grown, so she volunteered to go on this latest round of publicity for the book. But all the remaining members are still involved in the project and have been since it started.
“We really care about the book,” explains Halpen.
The group are currently working with three new members who they hope will help the brand continue and continue to evolve.
“Things have changed so much in the time that we’ve been doing this book,” notes Halpen, but the main focus of the book hasn’t: simple recipes with gourmet results.
Halpen’s favourite recipe from the newest version of the book is a Savoury Mushroom and Brie Tart. That may not sound like the familiar simple recipes of Bridge books, but Halpen insists the recipe is really easy to make, and “it tastes as good as it looks.”
