Una Stella Abrahamson ( Golding; August 6, 1922 – February 28, 1999) was an English-born Canadian artist and writer.

Biography

She was born Una Stella Golding in

London London is the capital and largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary down to the North Sea, and has been a majo ...

and studied art in England. She married Roy Abrahamson shortly after

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

ended in 1945 and came to Canada the next year. She apprenticed as a painter with Henri Masson. She later worked as an

economist An economist is a professional and practitioner in the social sciences, social science discipline of economics. The individual may also study, develop, and apply theories and concepts from economics and write about economic policy. Within this ...

and as domestic historian for the test kitchens at ''

Chatelaine Chatelaine may refer to: * Chatelaine (chain), a set of short chains on a belt worn by women and men for carrying keys, thimble and/or sewing kit, etc. *Chatelaine (horse), a racehorse * ''Chatelaine'' (magazine), an English-language Canadian wom ...

'' magazine. She was also a publicist for the kitchens of

General Foods General Foods Corporation was a company whose direct predecessor was established in the United States by Charles William Post as the Postum Cereal Company in 1895. The company changed its name to "General Foods" in 1929, after several corporate ...

and later as director of Consumer Affairs for the

Dominion The term ''Dominion'' is used to refer to one of several self-governing nations of the British Empire. "Dominion status" was first accorded to Canada, Australia, New Zealand, Newfoundland, South Africa, and the Irish Free State at the 1926 ...

chain of supermarkets. In 1975, Abrahamson was chair of the Ontario Council of Health's task force on

dietetics A dietitian, medical dietitian, or dietician is an expert in identifying and treating disease-related malnutrition and in conducting medical nutrition therapy, for example designing an enteral tube feeding regimen or mitigating the effects of ca ...

and nutrition. In October 1976, she was hit by a car in

Toronto Toronto ( ; or ) is the capital city of the Canadian province of Ontario. With a recorded population of 2,794,356 in 2021, it is the most populous city in Canada and the fourth most populous city in North America. The city is the ancho ...

. After staying in a

coma A coma is a deep state of prolonged unconsciousness in which a person cannot be awakened, fails to respond normally to painful stimuli, light, or sound, lacks a normal wake-sleep cycle and does not initiate voluntary actions. Coma patients exhi ...

for over a year and going through a subsequent long recovery period, she regained the ability to speak and write. She died in 1999 in Toronto at the age of 76.

Legacy

She was the author of ''God Bless Our Home: Domestic Life in Nineteenth Century Canada'' (1966), ''The Canadian Guide to Home Entertaining'' (1974) and ''Crafts Canada'' (1975). The large collection of cookbooks that she accumulated over her life were donated to the

University of Guelph , mottoeng = "to learn the reasons of realities" , established = May 8, 1964 ()As constituents: OAC: (1874) Macdonald Institute: (1903) OVC: (1922) , type = Public university , chancellor ...

as the Una Abrahamson Canadian Cookery Collection.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Abrahamson, Una Stella 1922 births 1999 deaths Artists from London Artists from Toronto British emigrants to Canada Canadian food writers Canadian women painters Canadian women non-fiction writers Writers from London Writers from Toronto 20th-century Canadian women artists