SOURCE: “The Ethno-Semiotics of Food: A. M. Klein's ‘Second Scroll’ as Recipe for Multiculturalism,” in Mosaic, Vol. 29, No. 3, September, 1996, pp. 15-33.

In the following essay, Dvorak presents an analysis of the social and political nature of food in Klein's Second Scroll, noting that the novel represents the author's efforts to recover an ethno-religious heritage.

Ottawa's two-decade-old policy of encouraging immigrants to preserve and enhance their heritage, coupled with the current high levels of nonwhite immigration, have transformed Canada into a multiracial, pluri-ethnic society. Yet at the same time that major Canadian cities such as Toronto, Vancouver and Montreal, which accept 60٪ of all immigrants, are becoming multicultural, fear and resentment have been rising with respect to unemployment, property, and the demands on services such as education and health. The conflicting ideologies of Reform M.P.s and the federal Minister of Education have catalyzed debate over Canada's commitment to...