Summer is the season of all things good

If I were to say the word bread to you, what comes to mind? 

Do you hear crusts crackling as you tear into loaves, or do you visualise perfectly sliced loaves wrapped in plastic bags? Do you think of grandmothers and toasty kitchens, or of the first time you baked it yourself? 

Over at CBC Radio here in Atlantic Canada, I was recently asked to write and produce a radio piece about bread, and so I wrote about the knowledge transmitted through bread. I wanted to write about bread as a form of cultural and culinary identity, agricultural foundation and 21st century balm to pandemic anxiety.

The piece is part of an ongoing summer series the CBC is producing in this region all about Atlantic Canadians’ relationship to bread, and I was more than happy to provide a bit of a foreword to it all. You can listen to it here.

Speaking of summer content and radio, I’m also about to start a weekly column over at Le Réveil, Nova Scotia and Newfoundland’s morning show on Radio-Canada. The series, called Plaisirs d’été, will be weekly looks into what is available in our gardens and our local farmers markets. 

I also recently started a new column for Le Courier, Nova Scotia’s french language newspaper. Called Finis ton assiette (clean/finish your plate), it will be a continuation of the information presented on Radio-Canada, but with a bit more context as to the changing shape and nature of how and what Nova Scotians eat, with tips and guides on how to use the season’s bounty to the best of your ability. 

Le Courrier was kind enough to let me start the column with a slightly more personal piece, where I talk about what it was like to talk about Acadian cuisine outside of Acadie, and how doing so led me to understand what it means to be Acadian while describing it to others through food.

Here’s to summer bounties.

Talking about food, old recipes, culinary heritage and more.

When you write about very specific subjects, and spend the majority of your time digging into (what you view as) minutiae, you can be surprised when other people are as interested as you are in such things. In my case, it's culinary heritage, and the many ways it can manifest itself. 

So I was surprised, moved, and excited to be a part of the Festival de Clareté put on my La Fédération régionale des arts et du patrimoine, based in my home base of Church Point, Nova Scotia, and the surrounding villages which make up Clare, Nova Scotia. 

I had the chance to speak to groups (and generations) of people interested in their own cuisines as a form of heritage, and something to discuss, promote, and even dissect a little. One of my favourite moments was to be a part of a panel put on le Centre acadien at Université Sainte-Anne, where panelists including Clint Bruce, the chair of Acadian and transnational studies at Université Sainte-Anne,  Georges Arsenault, author, ethnologist and folklorist on Acadian traditions, and the recent Canadian parliamentary poet,  Georgette LeBlanc.  You can watch the panel discussion - in french - over at Sainte-Anne's YouTube channel.

But as much as I loved being home and talking about Acadian foodways with people who live them daily, it's always exciting to share them with a new audience. And I got to do that with arguably one of the best voices in food media, Evan Kleiman from KCRW's Good Food. 

I've been listening to Good Food for years now, and listen to it every week. Although at first glance radio production may seem easy - just sit and talk - you have to ensure that your hosts and the guests have something interesting to say, and that will keep them tuned in, week after week. That's what Good Food has done consistently for almost 20 years now.  So to be asked to be a part of it all was pretty amazing. Many thanks to Rosalie Atkinson for extending the invitation, and to Evan Kleiman for being as gracious as she sounds. 

Sidenote: One of my favourite parts of Good Food is The Market Report where Laura Avery visits the Santa Monica Farmers Market on a weekly basis to talk with farmers and vendors. The day of my interview, I had the chance to go to the market with my friend Hank. It was amazing to see (and taste the wares of) the farmers and vendors I have heard about for years.  Especially the flavours of the insane amount of citrus found for sale. Tasting citrus that had been ripening on a tree less than a few hours ago is something I will cherish for a long time. 

Out like a lion, in like a well-seasoned lamb.

As someone who makes a living by recording other people’s voices, I am often told, “I sound so different.” No, I think you sound exactly as I know you.

But waking up this morning on this first Monday of the new year, I experienced a bit of that.  I was listening to my local morning show on CBC Radio, and I heard my name being called. It was an interview I had recorded with the host, chatting about food trends and topics for 2016. 

To be honest, I am used to hearing my own voice on the radio. I have recorded, edited, and heard my own voice quite a lot over the past few years, so it doesn’t phase me. Maybe it was because I wasn’t awake, but I listened to myself chatting away with the host, and thought, “I should be doing more of this.”

So that’s my resolution. To tell more stories that I am proud of. Stories like that of the Chen family, and how tofu was more than food, it was a way of life. Stories like that of Alexandra Mansour, and how an immigrant housewife came to change the palate of an entire community of rural Nova Scotians.  Stories that speak close to home, whether home is in Nova Scotia, or 2000 miles away. Like the story I told in Gravy, the Southern Foodways Alliance’s podcast. 

How is a region of the far north—Canada—intimately connected to a region 2,000 miles away in the Deep South? In this episode of Gravy, the story of the Acadians and the Cajuns, and how they’re reconnecting… through gumbo.

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I've already started on things for the new year. New radio pieces. More stories. And most importantly,  I'm working on a book project, one that will take me throughout Atlantic Canada, and through decades of dishes. Dishes likes the ones detailed in these recipe. But more on that later. Stay tuned.

They say years come in like a lamb, and out like a lion. I say this year went out with a roar, but this new one is coming in like a well-seasoned lamb. Tasty, indeed. 

Neverending Cookbooks...

A few weeks ago, I did an episode of Assis Toi that featured author Lindsay Cameron Wilson talking about cookbooks. It appears that episode may have struck a chord with people, as Lindsay and I were invited to be on Maritime Noon, CBC Radio's noontime call-in show for Nova Scotia, New Brunswick, and Prince Edward Island. The subject: your favorite cookbook. 

It was great to hear people tell their stories of their favourite cookbooks: how they came to be in their possession, what they have cooked from them, and so much more. What struck me the most was how many people brought up the Purity Cookbook, a simple, homey book that started out as a promotional item that - at least according to the callers - shaped their kitchens in more ways than one. Many thanks to Jonna Brewer and Polly Leger for inviting me to to come onto the show. 

You can stream the episode here, or download it here. The discussion starts at the 11:35 mark. 

Mas Tacos, Por Favor

Sometimes you experience something and you want to share that with as many as possible. That's how David Parks felt about the taco stands and cantinas that dot the streets in in Mexico City.  

La Catrina greets you over at La Cantina.

That's why David Parks started La Cantina, a small taco stand that operates on the patio of Pat's Kitchen on Kaye Street in Halifax's Hydrostone district. The menu is small, but mighty, with two specials served every Tuesday and Thursday, weather permitting. 

Sometimes it's best to just follow your nose. That's exactly what led me to La Cantina, a taco stand in Halifax. In the latest episode of "Assis Toi", David Parks brings a little bit of Mexico City to Halifax by cooking up tacos in the city's Hydrostone area. Assis Toi" is a radio series that airs on Information Morning and Island Morning on CBC Radio in the Maritimes. It tells stories about the kinds of relationships that people have with food. For more info on "Assis Toi" and its producer, Simon Thibault, check out: Http://simonthibault.com

In the latest episode of Assis Toi, David explains the nature of taco stands and cantina culture in Mexico City, all while doling out tasty tacos to his customers. You can stream the item here, or you can download the podcast here.

In the meantime,  have a listen to David explain the necessity of hand chopping your salsas, and the ubiquitousness of flor de jamaica/sorrel/hibiscus as a drink in Mexico and beyond in Have A Seat.

Have A Seat is a collection of previously unaired audio from interviews that air on CBC Radio's "Assis Toi". The series looks at people's relationships with food. On this episode, David Parks - owner and chef behind La Cantina, a taco stand in Halifax's North End - shares secrets about his salsas and that most wonderful of drink flavours, Flor de Jamaica. To find out more about La Cantina, check out: https://twitter.com/cantinahfx http://twitter.com/simonathibault http://simonthibault.com