Eric Demay

When travelling, high up there on the list, along with finding the off side-streets where good photographs lie, is the discovery, the tasting and understanding of the local food and culinary culture. I’d go to Argentina just for the grass-fed red meat, the trip to China last year turned out to be a two month food binge.

Fogo was interesting, to say the least: what does a Newfoundland island full of fishermen eat during the long winter months? The traditional kitchen is evidently shaped by what was readily available: frozen fish from last season’s harvest (cod mostly) and vegetables form the root cellar (turnips, potatoes, cabbage). Fresh vegetables? Not so much. We were in dire need of greens. Even the hardcore meat eaters were craving spinach and arugula.

The most notable tasty local dish was Fish and Brewis (wikipedia), a traditional Newfoundland concoction of boiled Codfish and soaked hard bread, usually topped with scrunchions (diced and fried salt pork, think bacon bits oreille-de-criss style) and—gasp—sometimes even a drizzle of molasses.

As the workshop covered room and board, food-wise, we were regularly invited to either:

• A homemade meal generously cooked up by a different group of nice local people, usually groups of women: the town hall Firettes, the ACW (Anglican Church Women) or the Winds and Waves Textile Guild.
• Eat out at Nicole’s Café, planned as a group outing for lunch and supper every 4 days. Pretty much the only “good” restaurant on the island, suppers featured three tasty services and wine to spare. Choosing what you were going to eat/taste the next “Nicole day” was for me a highlight. I’d usually go with the fish.
• Spend our Fogo-Dollars at one of the the listed and pre-approved local establishments: we were given printed food-notes by the Arts Corporation, paper money to be used for food supplies. You could spend the fogo-dollars at the grocery store, the bakery, Nicole’s, Chester’s Fried Chicken or Kwang Tung, the one and only chinese (cantonese) restaurant. Inevitably, we were also trying to find ways to buy booze [and wool socks, chewing gum or cigarettes] with them. Fogo dollars: gotta spend ‘em while you have ‘em.

So, without further ado, here’s an assemblage of 18 days of Fogo food: