Longtime TV host — half-Brit, half-Quebecer — sells concept to IGA, and the chain launched the items in 400 of its stores across Quebec and the Maritimes this past September.
A star on franco TV ici launching a line of British baked goods? At first glance, it seems like an unusual concept.
But the way Anne-Marie Withenshaw explains it, the whole thing makes perfect sense. First off, it’s true that Withenshaw is best known for her work on francophone TV as a former VJ on Musique plus and as host of the award-winning TV series C’est juste de la TV. But her family background is half British and half French-Canadian, and the fluently bilingual Montrealer has often worked in English — she interviewed celebrities for years on radio station The Beat and she hosted the Jamie Oliver-produced cooking show Pressure Cooker.
Withenshaw also has a long history with food-themed shows, hosting Guide Resto Voir on the Évasion network for six seasons and also co-hosting a few cooking shows with renowned Montreal chef Chuck Hughes.
The British baked-goods project is very much a tribute to her British grandmother, Sylvia Bloom Withenshaw, who was originally from Birmingham but ended up in Montreal after the Second World War. She married a Montrealer of British origins who had gone to England during the war as a member of the 6th Canadian Hussars regiment, and they returned to his hometown in the late 1940s.
Growing up, Anne-Marie would always be well-fed when she visited her grandmother’s place in Montreal North, and it was the kind of household where there was always something sweet sitting on the kitchen table. She had a slew of recipes. A couple of years before she died in 2011, Anne-Marie did a piece in Chatelaine magazine featuring her grandma’s recipes.
After Anne-Marie’s father died in January 2023 of complications from brain cancer, she began thinking the time might be right to do something with all those recipes. And that germ of an idea eventually led to the TV host unexpectedly becoming a food entrepreneur, creating these British-themed desserts. She sold the concept to IGA and the chain launched the items in 400 of its stores across Quebec and the Maritimes in September.
The line includes a cinnamon swirl ring cake, a double chocolate ring cake, sticky toffee pudding and three types of scones (Earl Grey tea and white chocolate, a plain scone with sprinkles, and one with English cheddar and green onion). In short, pretty well everything you need for afternoon tea!
But Withenshaw points out that these cakes and scones aren’t that different from what folks love eating in Quebec, a place not necessarily known for celebrating British culture.
She said she recently brought her oh-so-British goodies to a big conference with IGA managers from across Quebec and they loved them.
“I have so been feeling the love here,” Withenshaw said. “Last week, we went to Quebec City. (IGA owner) Sobeys has this huge food fair where they invite the owners of the 400 IGA/Bonichoix/Marchés Tradition stores, everything that’s owned by Sobeys, and they rebuilt a huge grocery store, and every brand is there. And everybody was like, ‘Oh my gosh.’
“I feel the cakes are really kind of universal. They’re fun tea-time treats. Sticky toffee pudding is obviously the quintessential British dessert. If you don’t know what it tastes like, I tell les Québécois, it’s kind of like a pouding chômeur except the cake is date-based and not a white cake. But if anyone has been to England or been to a Gordon Ramsey restaurant, they know what it’s supposed to taste like.”
The one thing here is it’s tough to find good scones, Withenshaw notes.
“It’s like the scones, if I break them open, they have to be flaky inside,” Withenshaw said. “It has to be super buttery, super good.”
The other key point about all the baked good is they’re sold frozen and it takes a maximum of 10 minutes to cook them in the oven.
“I really wanted it to be super quick to cook,” Withenshaw said. “(Her husband) Jay (Walker) and I are two working parents and you know, it’s a trip. You never have enough time. So to say I spend my Sundays baking cakes and scones is a total lie. I don’t have time. I know there are a million people like me that really like fresh food, but they don’t have the time. So we said, ‘Let’s make them like they make them at home but offer them frozen.’ You just have to heat them up and they’re ready. For all I care, you can take them out and pretend you made it. I’d be so happy for you. I just want to make people’s lives easier.”
And Withenshaw feels the timing is right is to launch British-themed food. But mostly, she just loves that it’s a family affair.
“It’s fun to have this tribute to my family,” Withenshaw said.