Person

Armstrong, Julian

1932-

Julian Armstrong is a Canadian food writer and long-time journalist with the Montreal Gazette. During her career, she has extensively researched and written about Quebec's foodways and culinary history. Armstrong was born in Toronto and grew up in the city's Annex neighbourhood. She graduated from the Bishop Strachan School and then from the University of Toronto with a degree in history. During the 1950s, she worked briefly at the Toronto Star newspaper before moving to Montreal and taking a job at the Montreal Gazette, in what was then known as the women's department. Armstrong married Montreal lawyer Robert O'Brien in 1957. After taking a local cooking class, she began writing about food one day a week for the Gazette. She worked as food editor at the Montreal Star from 1964 until the newspaper folded in 1979. In 1986, while a food editor with the Montreal Gazette, Armstrong began to travel around Quebec, speaking with local chefs, home cooks, and food producers, and learning around the region's culinary heritage and practice. These culinary travels served as the basis for two books: Made in Quebec: A culinary journey, published in 2014, and A taste of Quebec, published in 1990 with an updated edition in 2001. She has received numerous journalism awards and is a founding member of the Association of Food Journalists and the association Taste Canada (previously known as the Cuisine Canada culinary alliance).

http://www.julianarmstrong.com/about/
Susan Schwartz, Collecting food lore has been a real trip for Julian Armstrong, The Montreal Gazette, 10 January 2014.