Monthly Archives: August 2012

Unique Foods of Nova Scotia

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After writing my post about the unique foods of Newfoundland, I was inspired to do one for Nova Scotia.

I know what you’re thinking; oh! foods of Nova Scotia! Mussels, scallops, haddock, clams and the omnipresent lobster. Yes, these are all celebrated foods of Nova Scotia, and yes, they are fantastic. But you can get quality seafood anywhere there is a decent shoreline.  I want to talk about food that is unique to the Maritimes, and while lobster and wild blueberries are indeed regional delights, I’m instead going to talk about what poor ass Nova Scotians really eat besides … well… pan fried haddock.

For musical accompaniment, click here or here.

1) Solomon Gundy

Solomon Gundy is just pickled herring. It is sold in a jar, and typically placed on a cream cheese laden cracker. This is one of my favourite snacks. Pickled herring is not uniquely Nova Scotian. Germans, for example, roll it around pickles and call it “rollmops”. What is particularly interesting is that the only place in the world that refers to pickled herring as “solomon gundy” is Nova Scotia. Elsewhere, “solomon gundy” is known as a Jamaican pate of pickled smoked herring spiced with chile peppers.

2) Dulse
Stay focused on the above picture of the Solomon Gundy for now. See the purple stuff? That’s dulse. That’s Nova Scotia’s favourite dried seaweed. Most often, it is just eaten right out of the bag.

3) Garlic Fingers

Garlic Fingers with donair sauce from Pizza Delight.

The uninformed have often informed me that you can get “garlic bread sticks” anywhere. As if all sticks made out of a bread-like substance and flavoured with garlic were created equal!

Garlic fingers are more revered than pizza by many Maritimers. We are talking about pizza dough slathered with garlic butter and mozzarella cheese and baked just like a pizza. It is then cut into strips, dunked in sweet donair sauce, and regarded very highly among starving students, late-night drunks, sailors, hipsters, thugs, crusty punks, yuppies, blue collar roughians and all the fine folks that make up the Haligonian demographic. Other “garlic breads” are bland bready boredom in comparison. This magnificent decadence is made possible merely by a combination of garlic, cheese, pizza dough and, most importantly, donair sauce. Apparently they were invented by Pizza Delight, based in Moncton, NB but are literally available at every pizza shop in the Maritimes.

4) Hodge Podge

I’m not sure if hodge podge is eaten everywhere in Nova Scotia, but it is certainly enjoyed in it’s south shore; never in restaurants, but in homes. Come spring and summer the local markets start advertising their “hodge podge potatoes” and various vegetables like carrots, peas, parsley and wax beans that compose this celebration of Nova Scotian gardens. It is prepared lovingly the same way all homestyle Nova Scotian meals are cooked – in cream.

5) Beep

A Beep slushie from Sugah! Halifax

So apparently Beep used to be sold all over the place in the 1960s but continued in Nova Scotia until just a few years ago. Suddenly, this year, Farmer’s Dairy brought it back! … for a limited time only (we’ll see). This is the funky juice, sold in a carton, that a lot of us grew up on. It is a mixture of various chemicals, as well as apple and orange juice, apricot puree and prune syrup. The above picture shows a Beep slushie I found at the Tall Ships festival this summer.

6) Meat Paste Eggrolls

A meat paste eggroll from Look Ho Ho, Halifax.

Eggrolls drastically vary from city to city, I’ve learned. The ones I grew up eating had ground pork and cabbage in them. But when I moved to Halifax, I was abruptly introduced to the “meat paste eggroll”. For a while I wasn’t sure if this was really a Halifax thing, or a Nova Scotian thing, but the more research I do, the more I see people in forums asking the same questions: “What the hell is up with the eggrolls in Halifax?” or “Help! I’ve moved to Ontario and their eggrolls don’t have meat paste in them!” I grew to really miss these when I moved to Calgary, which is a springroll city, NOT an eggroll city. Expect more on the topic of eggrolls in the future!

7) Potato Skins (East Coast Style)

A potato skin from Maxwell’s Plum, Halifax.

Sitting in a pub in Ontario I noticed a dish called “potato skins” that were .. not quite right. As I moved westwards, I kept seeing these “not-quite-right” potato skins. It was like, a potato chopped into quarters and carefully topped with cheese, onions, and bacon. Could it be, thought I, that the rest of Canada makes potato skins differently than back home? My suspicions were reinforced when a Maritime-themed pub opened in Calgary and served “East Coast Potato Skins – all skins, no potato”. These are laid out like nachos and baked with cheddar cheese, bacon pieces and green onions. Sour cream on the side. In my not-so-humble opinion, this is what potato skins were meant to be.

8) Deep Fried Pepperoni

Deep fried pepperoni from Colby Ale House, Cole Harbour.

For the longest time, I had no idea this was a Nova Scotian thing. That same pub in Calgary that served the east coast potato skins also served deep fried pepperoni and even bragged that they imported it from Nova Scotia! I’m not so sure that this step was necessary, but I guess the intent was to be as authentic as possible. Most pepperoni in Nova Scotia is produced by the Brothers Deli or Chris Brothers. When deep fried and served with honey or hot mustard, this is a real treat.

9) The Legendary Halifax Donair

*Disclaimer: The following image may be disturbing to some viewers.

A donair from Venus Pizza, Halifax

*Disclaimer: Eating the above item may alter your body chemistry for up to 3 days.

Here is a preliminary introduction to the Halifax donair; a topic that I will be discussing at length in the future.
1) Donairs were invented in Halifax in the 1970s.
2) It is different than a Turkish/German “doner kebab”, a Greek/American “gyro” or a “beef shwarma”.
3) Donairs in Alberta consistently fail to replicate the monstrosity of the Halifax donair.
4) There is only one sauce that goes on a donair, i.e. donair sauce.
5) Donair = donair meat + pita + donair sauce + onions + tomato. Acceptable additions sometimes include mozzarella, pepperoni, or lettuce.

That’s all for now! I completely welcome feedback and/or debate about what I had to say about Nova Scotian foods. The comment section is right below!

Pizza Chronicles: Windsor, Ontario

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When I lived in Calgary, I worked with several individuals from the small city of Windsor, Ontario. Relying largely on Detroit’s automotive industry, or lack thereof, Windsor folks are represented amongst the work-hungry migrants who find themselves in Calgary. These friends of mine taught me things I didn’t know – many things! Such as: Windsor is the southernmost city in Canada. It is located even more southernly than some U.S. towns and cities. It has a hot, humid climate in the summer, perfect for tomatoes, and with a large Italian population to boot! For this reason it is a town rich with Italian food and pizza. The other unique thing about Windsor is that it is directly across the river from Detroit. You can literally see the Detroit skyline from the Windsor waterfront, and there is a bridge and an under-water tunnel that can take you there easily.

More than anything, my Windsor friends insisted that their hometown has the best pizza in Canada! Now, that’s a big claim, and you can bet your ass I showed up on my friend Kyle’s doorstep as promised.

The above picture displays my first slice of Windsor pizza. This particular slice is from Capri pizza, which, apparently, is one of the only good Windsor-style joints with a location downtown. The first thing I noticed was that the pepperoni is shredded… shredded! Whoa. This slice of pizza had obviously been sitting under the lamps for a while, so it wasn’t the best initiation into this style of pizza, but you can see that the Windsor style is a hand-tossed thin-ish style. Thus far, it sorta looks like Halifax’s pizza corner style, aside from the pepperoni.

My Windsor tour-guide suggested we go to his favourite pizza place, namely, Riverside Restaurant and Tavern. This was an old worn-in neighbourhood sports bar (not the kind with the flat screen TVs, wing specials and boobs, but rather the kind with the vintage, no-nonsense servers and dusty sports memorabilia on the walls).

This pizza was an improvement on Capri, if not only because it was served fresh in the dining room. The pepperoni was the same shredded variety, only the menu referred to it as “sausage” for some reason (pepperoni is technically a sausage, but how misleading). The crust was sturdy-crisp. Nice. We went half/half because Kyle doesn’t like mushrooms and olives, and I practically require them. However, the mushrooms were *shudder*… canned! C’est terrible! But before I trash this particular institution, I should mention that all Windsor pizza places are rumoured to serve canned mushrooms. Best pizza in Canada? This is certainly one count against Windsor.

Another interesting thing about Riverside Pizza is that they provide a bottle of home-made BBQ sauce for dipping. Strange choice, but the locals seem to dig it.
The last pizza of my Windsor pizza tour, was one from Naples, which, oddly enough, is not representative of the trendy Neapolitan style. It took some work to figure out which location delivered to our area, since, as I mentioned, most Windsor pizza places aren’t downtown locations where you sit down and eat. However, this pizza was easily one of the best I’ve ever had! This time I went with Kyle’s preferred toppings of pepperoni (yes, shredded), green pepper and banana peppers. This worked out well for us both, and I found the sauce at Naples to be superior to the others I had tried. The crust was thin, and not particularly crispy or floppy – a nice balance. I really loved this pie.

I give much credit and love to Windsor as a Canadian pizza town. Just don’t order the mushrooms…

Naples Pizza is also available in other Ontario locations, such as London.

Links for your persual:

Capri Pizza

Riverside Restaurant and Tavern

Naples Pizza

Burger Quest Pt 1: The Works

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My fellow Haligonians, you are in for a treat!! The Works is coming to Halifax! Yes indeed, it will be occupying the space on Doyle St. where the Italian Gourmet used to be. Right in between Sweet Jane’s and Port of Wines. This is an Ottawa-based chain restaurant with sort of an “industrial” theme, specializing in burgers.

Just a few years ago, Halifax was a burger desert. Sometime in 2008 I was seriously contemplating doing a burger quest of Halifax. But where would I go aside from Chickenburger and Darrell’s? To be quite honest, Halifax has not known burgers until this year. I haven’t yet had time to do an updated burger quest, but soon I will be questing my way through Ace Burgers, Cheese Curds, Relish, Darrell’s and The Works.

In the meantime, I can tell you all about The Works.
I will just go ahead and say it then: the second best hamburger I’ve had in my whole life has been at The Works. And on TWO occasions! I first ate here when I was visiting Ottawa on my way across Canada. On this occasion I had a burger crusted with peppercorns and it was divine! This second occasion, more recently, I had a burger at The Works in London, Ontario and my expectations were totally warranted. This burger had avocado, eggplant, salsa and feta cheese. It was exceptional.

You see the pink, don’t you? I know you’re wondering about the pink. Rumour has had it that less-than-well-done hamburgers are illegal in Canada! As it turns out, this is an urban legend. I speculate that this originated when restaurants would refuse to serve rare burgers because the quality of the meat was so sub-par it was unsafe to serve it “undercooked”. Look, we are suffering from a bad situation when it comes to how we raise our cattle and how we handle our meat. However, if a restaurant is using quality ingredients and skilled cooks there is no problem with cooking a burger “properly”. As I was told in London, regulations require that beef be heated to a certain temperature, not to a certain colour.

So enjoy! The only stressful thing about your meal should be reading the menu and deciding which burger to order! Trust me, this WILL be the most difficult part.

Newfoundland: 6 Unique Foods

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I recently spent some time in Newfoundland and fell in love with the place. It’s rugged beauty, friendly hospitality, culture of music, food, and parties are definitely worth a return visit. I made sure to eat my way through this amazing place, and here are 6 things I had never eaten (or even heard of) before visiting.

For the best experience while reading this post, listen to this, and this.

1) Bakeapple

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So I’m in a kitchen in Newfoundland, and the by’s are complimenting the host on her bakeapple tarts. Being quite a fan of apple-related items, I took a bite of one. Ooops! What I bit into was not a baked apple tart, but a bakeapple tart. A bakeapple is a berry native to Newfoundland (and several other northern regions). It is commonly referred to as a “cloudberry”, but not in Newfoundland! Why? Well, apparently a French person asked, “baie qu’appelle” (what is this berry called) and bam! Now it’s called a bakeapple! Pretty cool, eh? So these babies are very difficult to pick and demand is high, so you can see how I paid $8 for a jar of this bakeapple jam.

2) Fish ‘n’ Brewis

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This one is simple. Take some really hard inedible bread, soak it in water until it’s sorta soggy, and then throw in some salt cod and fried pork fat tidbits. Then, douse the concoction with “drawn butter” – whatever that is. Why would anyone eat this? Well, if you were out at sea for long periods of time and desperate for unspoiled food, you’d probably worship your vessel’s cook for coming up with this. “Brewis” (pronounced “brews”) = hard tack = really-hard-break-your-tooth bread. It probably never spoils (remember this for the apocalypse, kids). The little bits of pork fat are called “scrunchions”, and are even sold in grocery stores in Newfoundland. I witnessed fish ‘n’ brewis being peddled at Velma’s and the Bagel Cafe in St John’s.

3) Toutons

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I had never heard tell of a touton, until I was told on my first day in Newfoundland. At the Bagel Cafe in St. John’s I had to keep repeating the word, and rehearsing it before ordering, to make sure I was saying it right. The “tout” is pronounced the way Canadians say “about” – if that helps (it doesn’t). Anyways, it’s fried bread. Commonly served for breakfast/brunch, toutons are usually accompanied by molasses. But at the Bagel Cafe in St. John’s you can get a touton breakfast sandwich featuring your choice of – well, to hell with it – might as well just get bologna (i.e. Newfie steak). To make things even more interesting, toutons are very often rolled into cylinders before frying, in which case they are called “little dicks”. Gotta love Newfoundland…

4) Fries with Dressing and Gravy
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So my friends in Newfoundland suggested we go for a “dirty feed”, which, apparently, is when you go out and eat raunchy unhealthy food. A local favourite is fries with dressing and gravy. That’s cool, I thought. You can get a “stuffed poutine” in Halifax… ya know, a poutine with Stovetop stuffing on top. But I was corrected: it’s DRESSING, not STUFFING. What’s the difference? Well, stuffing is what you stuff in the turkey. Dressing doesn’t go in a turkey. Right, thought I, just like “stove-top stuffing” – same effin’ thing! So my french fries and gravy, sans cheese curds, arrived at the table with some sort of weird breadcrumb mixture on it. Eureka! So THIS is what you Newfies call “dressing”. It’s breadcrumbs with savory and butter (no soggy bread cubes), and yes, they do serve this with turkey as well. Who knew?!

5) Pease Pudding
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To explain pease pudding, I would have to explain Jiggs Dinner. Okay. So. On the north-east coast of things, descendants of Irish-type-people sometimes eat what is called a “boiled dinner”. In New England this is made with corned beef or ham. In Newfoundland, for whatever reason, they call it “Jiggs Dinner” and it is generally made with salt beef. Salt beef is different from corned beef in that it is just salt preserved, and not treated with vinegar and spices. In either case, the meat is cooked in a big bubbling pot of water and carrots, cabbage, turnip, and potatoes. Then everything, now delightfully flavoured by the meat, is scooped out and thrown on your plate. In Newfoundland there is also a mesh bag in the big bubbling pot, full of split yellow peas, which are removed and mashed and served with the dinner. This is absolutely awesome for lovers of bean paste and/or mush, of which I am a serious advocate.

6) Cod Tongues
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And what would a trip to Newfoundland be without some fried cod tongues? Anyone who knows Newfoundland knows how they love their cod! I saw this dish everywhere I went. It is kind of like eating cod, only with a different texture or… textures? A cod “tongue” isn’t really a tongue in the technical sense of the word (a muscle) but it is taken from folds at the base of the fish’s mouth and is referred to as such (don’t argue with the locals!).

Other cool stuff if you’re interested: partridgeberry, Pineapple Crush (and other weird flavours of Crush, like birch beer), cod au gratin, pea soup (different than the Dutch or French Canadian versions), moose… marinated … in a jar.

And yes, I did kiss a cod fish.

The Beginning.

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After publishing a trial blog based in Calgary, Alberta for several months, and basically living as a Calgarian for 3 years, I decided to pack it up and move back to Nova Scotia. I didn’t just hang up my cowboy hat and fly one-way-direct, however. Instead, I took the scenic route with a very large backpack and various bus tickets and hitched rides/couches. I did a big U-turn through British Columbia as far west as Tofino, and then dove south into Seattle. I hopped on a train for 45 hours chugging across the American landscape until we parked in Chicago. I crossed the Detroit/Windsor tunnel back into Canada and enjoyed the views and wines of the Niagara Peninsula. Then I shot home in a car with a two day pit stop in Montreal. With barely enough time to catch my breath, I was in an airplane to Newfloundland. And once again, to New York City.

Let’s just say that I love to travel. I love it so much I have enrolled myself into Tourism school. I am also in love with Nova Scotia, and especially Halifax. Those 3 years in the rolling plains and foothills, I suffered withdrawal from the ocean. I missed the local produce, seafood, wines, art and music. I am so happy to be home. Yet now I find myself missing Calgary pizza and our late night excursions for authentic Cantonese food. I miss slurping pho noodles with my ski buddies, and scarfing down Viet Subs before some lazy rafting on the Bow River. You see… food is connected to every memory. I still dream about  that tuna tacone in Victoria, that hamburger in Chicago, and that Coney Island hot dog in Detroit.

Let’s just say I love food. I love it so much I take pictures of it and do research about where I should eat. I tour around and eat things. I go on food quests to find out where the best hamburgers are in a given city. I scope out new restaurants and ethnic cuisines. I consider what foods are most representative of, and unique to, a city or region. I compare and contrast familiar foods across different regions. I take pictures of it all, and now, (lucky for you!), I am once again treading into the world of blogging.

One disclaimer: All of this eating and travelling does affect my body! I have gained 10lbs in 1.5 months. In my off time I eat a largely vegetarian diet and work out regularly. My love of food extends to healthy, wholesome, nutritious food and an active lifestyle. It’s fun to pig out sometimes, but nothing is more important than the health of the body and mind. Buy local! Read labels! Vote with your dollars and decrease the demand for factory farmed meats and GMO and pesticide ridden produce.

That is all!