come home to NL food 2022

Come Home 2022 Guide to the Good style

---

Newfoundland and Labrador are calling #ComeHome2022

Like it says on the Come Home website, Whether you’re a born and bred Newfoundlander/Labradorian/NLer, or an adventurer who feels the pull to here, there are always new wonders to explore. It would take a lifetime to truly experience all the marvels of this place. Maybe even several. Best to get an early start.

All of us at Guide to the Good are besotted with this place, and we’re so proud to have relationships with loads of local companies who make this place, this place.

To help you find some great local, social and green choices that help build sustainable communities, we are sharing #ComeHome2022 Guide to the Good style and showing off a few of our members' local art, food, and experiences for those looking for 'em. 

Click here for the intro.

Next up is Come Home to the tastes of Newfoundland and Labrador. There’s a LOT to unpack here, so we’ve broken it into three themes - traditional, historic, and evolving.  It’s all GOOD!  You won’t want to miss any of them!  Meanwhile, for a full complement of Guide to the Good’s ‘eat local’ theme of foods you can grow at home, prepare at home, take home, eat out, or anywhere in between- click here.

Cod - Newfoundland Tradition

Newfoundland and codfish go together.  Cod is traditionally an important sea resource for Indigenous people and it was the main reason other nations settled here.  Get the taste of traditional fish and chips - deep-fried, pan-fried or otherwise - at restaurants throughout the province - Chafe’s Landing in Petty Harbour is a great bet (best to call ahead).  Check out this fish ‘n chips blog by James Byrne for other yummy choices, and if you’re really into it, get in on this ‘best fish and chips’ Facebook group where you’ll find hits all over the province.

As beloved as the fee & chee is, there is more to cod than fry!  For other great ways to enjoy cod visit Goodwater Seafoods at the St. John’s Farmers’ Market. Christine and Roy own the shop and do an amazing smoked cod filet.  Our favourite way to serve it is to chop and mix with mayo and green onion and serve with scoops.

If catching as well as eating is your thing, locals and visitors can experience cod fishing during the season with Iceberg Quest.

Traditional with a twist - Waffles, berries, ice cream, lemonade

Another Farmers’ Market favourite is The Waffle Lady.  AKA Emily Hunt, aka the Ice Cream Lady, aka the Lemonade Lady..

AKA a really good reason to get up early on a Saturday!   

Those waffles can be beautifully dressed with traditional fruit favourites like local rhubarb, blueberry, strawberry, and raspberry with whipped cream, nuts, sprinkles and more. Also Ice Cream. The Waffle Lady makes delicious ice cream!  Vanilla, chocolate, coffee (with Bonavista coffee) as well as mint chip and mango. You can have it in a waffle cone (highly recommend!) or you can take it home and serve it with berries.

And there’s lemonade and iced tea.

Historic Tastes of Newfoundland and Labrador

Before there was much in the way of packaging, people got out there in the woods and fields and beaches and foraged for foods that nourished the body and sated the soul.  Those foods are still out there and you can check out The Forager’s Dinner by Shawn Dawson, published by Boulder Books to do some foraging on your own.  

For more on foraging, check out this foraging blog from 2016 we did with Canada’s Top Chef 2018 Ross Larkin, and Best Pastry Chef 2019 Celeste Mah.

If you don’t have time to forage, you can still enjoy the fruits of the earth.  Blue Heart Gardens makes gorgeous wildcrafted herbal teas that are delicious and soothing.

Another great local company that’s upping the foraging game is The NF Distillery Co. It’s the first full distillery active in Newfoundland in well over 100 years, the distillery is right on the water, and they use local botanicals to infuse their internationally acclaimed, medal-winning spirits.  

Seaweed. Bakeapples. Sea salt. Wild Newfoundland roses. Rhubarb. Changa. And more. And it’s always a lot of fun. Check out this pre-pandemic video to get the idea. And happy to say the space is open for spirits, food, live entertainment and always good fun.

Evolving tastes of Newfoundland and Labrador

Here is home to food that is exciting, exotic, and needing ingredients that are not Indigenous here. But they are a gorgeous, lively and growing part of the Newfoundland and Labrador culture of today.

In fact, NL author Kevin Major’s ‘As Near to Heaven By Sea’ shares stories that position this seafaring place in a global context, and it gives an idea of how the flavours and spices of the four corners of the earth mix in with historic and traditional tastes.  

So it might be fair to say that the influx of foods methods of food preparation from all over the world is not ‘new’, just a slow evolution. 

These evolving food cultures really brighten up the palate.  Some of our favourites include Curry Delight - a staple at the St. John’s Farmers’ Market, and more than one marketer makes the trek, especially for the food.   There is also a restaurant in Mount Pearl.  

GurshaNL's Ethiopian Cuisine brings the beautiful tastes of Ethiopia to the Northeast Avalon.  The place to find your Gursha is the Farmers’ Market, but check the weekly vendor list to confirm. All dishes are slow-cooked with care with authentic imported Ethiopian spices and local vegetables in season. 

~

Next up is Come home to NL experiences 2022

Keep an eye out!