Sure to Rise Parody of the Edmonds Cookbook

A Phrase Every Kiwi Knows by Heart

"Sure to Rise" is one of those phrases woven so deeply into New Zealand culture that most Kiwis can't remember the first time they heard it. It belongs to Edmonds, the Christchurch baking-powder company founded by Thomas Edmonds in 1879. According to family legend, a doubtful customer once asked Thomas whether his baking powder would really work better than the unreliable products then on the market. His reply — "It is sure to rise, Madam" — became the most enduring marketing slogan in New Zealand history.

The phrase, paired with a stylised rising-sun logo, has appeared on Edmonds baking powder tins for nearly 150 years. Edmonds is now part of Goodman Fielder, but the brand and the slogan remain unmistakable fixtures of every New Zealand pantry.

The Edmonds Cookery Book — A National Institution

The other Edmonds icon, of course, is the Edmonds Cookery Book, first published in 1908 under its original title, The Sure to Rise Cookery Book. It started as a marketing tool — 50 pages of "economical everyday recipes and cooking hints" — and grew over more than a century of editions into what is now New Zealand's best-selling book of all time. For decades, engaged couples in New Zealand received a free copy in the post when they announced their engagement in the newspaper, which is part of why the book ended up in almost every Kiwi kitchen.

The cookbook is where most New Zealanders learned to make Afghan biscuits, Lamingtons, Anzac biscuits, pavlova, and scones. My own copy lives in my California kitchen, and I've made many of those recipes here over the years for friends who'd never tasted them — a small, sweet act of cultural translation.

The Artwork

This piece is my affectionate parody of the cookbook's iconic cover, with a cheeky Easter twist. "Sure to Rise" works as a slogan for baking powder; it also works, with a bit of a wink, for the Easter story. Combining the two — Kiwiana and Resurrection imagery, the everyday and the eternal — felt like exactly the kind of irreverent-but-loving humour that runs through a lot of New Zealand culture.

It's an artwork made with deep affection for the brand, the cookbook, and the country. No Kiwi pantry should be without an Edmonds tin, and no Kiwi kitchen should be without a copy of the cookbook.

Available on Redbubble

This piece looks particularly good as an apron — giving Kiwi home cooks a humorous companion for the next batch of scones or Afghan biscuits. It's also available on prints, mugs, greeting cards, and other products, and would make a thoughtful gift for a Kiwi expat, a New Zealand baking enthusiast, or anyone who grew up with an Edmonds tin on the shelf.

View all my work on Redbubble by searching @kornkobart.

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Samoan Youth

Posted August 26, 2007

This young man was preparing with his friends for his moment of fame on the stage at the Samoan Village at the Polynesian dance festival called Pasifika in Auckland in March this year. Samoan Youth Canon EOS 20D 1/30sec at f/20 ISO 200 Canon 70-300mm lens at 300mm More photographs from the same Pasifika Festival day can be found in my new post, Faces of Pasifika 2007 — A Day at Auckland's Pacific Festival .

Digital Art and Photography by John Corney

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