We were living in Vancouver when the foodie world first discovered Newfoundland and its many culturally identifiable culinary nuances. Really? Hawkins Cheezies? Roast Chicken Chips? Pineapple Crush? How in the name of God could anyone tout Newfoundland as the “Darling” of the Gastro clique?
“… starved for content.”
Obviously, the food community must be absolutely starved for content. There’s no doubt we’ve come a long way since ‘Wok with Yan’, and there’s entire television networks to sustain. Not to mention the number of magazines, newspaper editorials, and books. It’s a huge business for certain – but seriously? Have you ever tasted the Mother in law’s cooking? Bland? Cooked to death? Completely devoid of any colour or sense of preparation. There must be some mistake.
Compounding my sense of disbelief was the wonderful array of quality foods and dining opportunities in Vancouver. After all, this was before the market crash of 2008 and we were living large, eating out for every meal and sampling some of the finest dining the city had to offer. Delicious dungeness crab, succulent sushi, mouth watering Alberta beef, and so many different varieties of ‘Fish and Chips’ – Now that was something worth talking about!
“… more normalized life began…”
When we finally moved back to Newfoundland and the “Welcome Home” dinners became less routine, a more normalized life began that now included ‘Date Nights’. This provided much insight to our new foodie world and the realization that the accolades focused less on cooking techniques or recipes. The true fascination was in what we prepared
There’s a very limited amount of meat or game to be found in Newfoundland, whereas cod fish was a great source of protein that was widely dispersed and infinitely available. But you know there’s only so many nights your poor Mother could serve cod before the crowd turned mutinous. Catching the undeniable scent of fresh fish frying a shout of protest arose; “Ah mom, not fish again?”. To which she’d respond – “Oh no honey, we’re not having fish tonight, we’re eating tongues.”
“Oh no my ducky, we’re having ‘sounds’ this evening” Or ‘britches’, napes, fins, livers, cheeks, and heads. All sorts of bizarre and tasty cuts that were considered waste to anyone else. Supplement this with a variety of sea birds, wild fowl, seal, and the occasional caribou and we finally began to acknowledge the foundation for a brilliant food culture.
When you combine this with a whole new team of artisan chefs, local farm markets, and brave ‘edible foragers’ (how come the faeries don’t take them?) and we suddenly find ourselves drawing on a vast pool of fun and talented characters who’ve nurtured this transition with truly authentic experiences that are embraced by locals and guests alike.
“Are ya any good to eat, son?”
” I’ll eat what’s put in front of me, sir.”
“Very well, Cause ya know you’re no good to me if you’re no good to eat!”
