Exploring this Canadian’s province’s lobster and other great seafood
For many people around the world, Nova Scotia lobster is a prized delicacy. But in Canada’s Atlantic coast province, it’s as everyday as Vegemite to an Australian; Some mothers have been known to pack lobster sandwiches in their school lunchboxes.
I don’t like lobster; I just don’t like him. Looks like there’s a lot of work to do for dinner. I thought a visit to Nova Scotia might change my mind, because even getting there was a challenge. Few destinations are further away from Australia; The capital, Halifax, is approximately 17,000 kilometers from Sydney.
Unsurprisingly, after a nearly two-day drive (I started from Melbourne) to drop off my bags at the central and elegant Sutton Place Hotel, I arrive hungry, then wander the compact streets of Halifax’s city center in search of dinner. One of its most popular restaurants, The Bicycle Thief, has a free stool at the bar.
I’m about to order lobster, but the customers next to me insist that I choose the fresh crab and mascarpone ravioli. I don’t argue and I’m happy. The most delicious beginning of my Eastern Canadian culinary explorations.
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The Bicycle Thief is located along the 2.7-mile harborside tourist boardwalk. The working port is home to Canada’s largest naval base and does heavy commercial shipping as well as lobster fishing.
On my first full day in Nova Scotia, I join my traveling companions to visit the historic ships and maritime museum near the pier. Lunch is at the Waterfront Warehouse, which was once a tugboat repair depot.
We order the generous seafood towers, with sparkling, fresh lobsters in prime position. I’m not yet convinced to don the apron, opting instead for plump local Cape Breton oysters shucked to order.
“Are you going to Peggy’s Cove?” This is a question I was asked many times during my short stay in the capital. It seems Halifaxians are as proud of this village as they are of their lobsters.
About 45 minutes from Halifax, it is among Canada’s most photographed places. Visitors angle to view the century-old working lighthouse atop wave-washed granite, one of more than 150 historic lighthouses in Nova Scotia.
Joining the crowd seems like too much effort for an uncertain comeback. I’m like a lobster, so I walk away. In the Spindrift Gallery, a converted country house, I look at evocative old photographs of the village’s fishing community that place the industry in historical perspective.
At Oak Island Resort, an hour’s drive away, I learned that lobster was harvested for food long before Canada’s European history began. “The Mi’kmaq were in this area 10,000 years ago,” says Tony Sampson, whose Salty Dog Tours transports visitors to nearby Oak Island.
“You still find artifacts,” Sampson says, describing the native arrowheads and tools that occasionally turn up on the island. “Some may have lived to be up to 10,000 years old. Even more appeared further south, around the Tusket Islands. They were heavily hunted by them.”
(Location of Oak Island The Curse of Oak Islandlong-running History Channel series about the search for buried treasure – Sampson is a regular member of the cast.)
There’s no lobster on the resort’s menu, but there is another satisfying staple: soup. Instead of leaning on lobster, one of my traveling companions goes on a soup journey and orders it everywhere we eat.
As we continue our journey, other Nova Scotian emblems appear; for example lighthouses. After Peggy’s Cove, I start counting: For every one working along the shore, there are two ornamental versions in the manicured yards of brightly colored homes in the state’s south, and I count them, too.
These houses, standing side by side like a box of bonbons, each with their own decorations, are among the most striking pleasures of visiting this place.
They reach a kaleidoscopic climax at Lunenburg, founded in 1753, a UNESCO World Heritage Site as North America’s best surviving example of a planned British colonial settlement. It’s a whimsically colorful and delightful place to wander on our food adventure with Lunenburg Walking Tours.
The last stop of the tour, the Old Fish Factory Restaurant on the beach, offers a delicious lobster roll; no apron required.
Looks like I’m getting to the lobster thing – so much so that I decided to visit the lobster habitat – sort of – when we spent the night at White Point Beach Resort on the coast, an hour south of Lunenburg.
A 96-year-old summer camp-style resort (hello, Dirty Dancing).
So it feels rude not to dive into the North Atlantic, even though it’s raining, the sea is choppy and a sign at reception says the water is 18C.
The board of directors doesn’t lie. The weather is very cold; Perfect for lobsters, not so much for me.
I warm up in the resort’s nautical-themed dining room. Instead of lobster, there’s expertly cooked Canadian beef; It’s a reminder that Canada’s wealth extends far beyond the oceans.
Canada’s culture is broad and rich, and we’ll soon be heading to the Acadian Coast at the southernmost tip of the province.
Beginning in the early 1600s, French Akkadian settlers shaped this coast, reclaiming the land through fishing and farming. For more than a century, the region was contested between France and Britain until the British seized control and exiled thousands of Akkadians in the mid-18th century.
Today, Acadian culture persists in Nova Scotia with its seafood-based cuisine, maritime traditions, language and strong sense of identity tied to the sea.
We discover all of this from plastic chairs tied precariously to the back of a small fishing boat off the town of Wedgeport.
We are with Tusket Island Tours; Our captain and team owner, Simon LeBlanc, is an Acadian from a multi-generational lobster fishing family.
We sail around an impressive fleet of commercial lobster ships to the Tusket Islands, where three centuries ago Acadians built shanties (shacks) to be closer to fishing grounds.
The locals are still setting traps on the islands for lobster season, and the squatters are now off for the weekend, and we’re ready for a chowder lunch at a place owned by LeBlanc.
However, an hour before the tour, our boat’s engine broke down. In the days of pirates and rum smugglers, this was a terrible place to destroy.
Today, LeBlanc calmly radios for help, then walks off the bridge and sings a cappella to the sea shanties – her voice is beautiful – as we wait, swaying above the deep blue. A gentle breeze is blowing, the sun is shining on the waters with an intensity I’ve never seen before, and the sky is the color of forget-me-nots.
We were soon rescued – too soon, if you ask me – and pulled away, as I realized that the lobster and what it meant to Nova Scotia had become an invitation to slow down and enjoy the unique hospitality, history and beauty of the region.
In the coming days we will visit the beautiful Annapolis Royal, founded by the French in 1605 and now one of the oldest European settlements in North America. Lunch is at the Halls Harbor Lobster Pound on the shores of the Bay of Fundy, where an armada of 16-foot lobster boats rest on the sea bed waiting for the tide to turn.
I can no longer avoid the apron at Lobster Pound. Here, live lobsters are ordered by weight. I order the smallest, trying not to stare too long at the tanks where the critters are waiting for the pot.
I’m starting out—pun intended—but I still can’t say this is my lobster epiphany. It’s still a lot of work for one meal. Most of the others at the table are excited about the lobster lunch (one abstains because he cried when he saw the tanks).
Before whale watching Digby in the Bay of Fundy, we stop for another lunch at a small cafe that doubles as a ticket office. I scanned the menu. There’s no lobster, but scallops (another Nova Scotia emblem) fill out the roll. I’ve eaten so much seafood that I’m about to order a grilled cheese sandwich.
Then I remember that Bay of Fundy scallops, especially Digby scallops, are prized around the world. My better self emerges: how often will a scallop roll be a $20 lunch option when I get home? Are scallops this good?
Outdoors on a blue-sky autumn day, looking across the sparkling water toward New Brunswick, I eat one of the best sandwiches of my life.
Thank God there is an unforgettable feast for all the senses for better selves and the grace and generosity of Nova Scotia. Lobster fans or not.
DETAIL
FLY
Air Canada flies direct from Sydney to Vancouver. Getting to Halifax requires at least another connection; most likely in Calgary. To see aircanada.com
TO STAY
Sutton Place Hotel Halifax is a stylish, central base in the capital. Rooms starting from $300. To see suttonplace.com
Oak Island Resort, a charming beachfront hotel, offers rooms and “chalets.” Prices starting from $200. To see oakislandresort.ca
White Point Beach Resort has a variety of accommodation options, from rooms to houses, on its expansive grounds. Prices for the new Lakeside Glomes glamping domes start at $215. To see whitepoint.com
TYPE
Salty Dog Tours start at $47 per person. To see saltydogtours.com
Lunenburg Walking Tours’ Flavors of Lunenburg starts at $109 per person. To see lunenburgwalkingtours.com
Julietta Jameson is a freelance travel writer who’d rather be in Rome, but her hometown of Melbourne is a happy compromise.Connect via email.
