TIDE AND JOY
NEW BRUNSWICK
New Brunswick has long enticed seafood lovers with its roadside clam shacks and bountiful lobster platters, which have buttered up the palates of many. But in recent years, culinary tourism in this easterly province has grown drastically (and deliciously), offering up myriad new adventures for the epicurean traveller that range from riverside coffee roasting to Indigenous medicine walks. Here’s a sampling of what’s on the menu.
A FOREST BUFFET
The old-growth forest in the centre of Fredericton is home to Odell Park and the city’s most interesting foraging tour. Take a medicine walk with Cecelia Brooks, a St. Mary’s First Nation (Sitansisk Wolastoqiyik) Elder, and her son, Anthony Brooks, who run Wabanaki Tree Spirit Tours. They guide you through the forest, teaching the history of local medicinal plants and trees along the way. Afterwards, they prepare wild rice and corn fritters, acorn cookies and three-sisters salad made with ingredients straight from Cecelia’s garden, all enjoyed in the park lodge.
LOBSTER TALES
Captain Ron starts the Shediac Bay Lobster Tales cruise with a joke and finishes with one too. What at first might seem like your typical three-hour tour is really a lesson in lobster basics; Captain Ron recounts life as a lobster fisher and the best cooking methods. But in between jokes and getting young passengers to clip a lobster claw, he makes time to convey a serious message about the importance of conservation and sustainability to a healthy Atlantic lobster fishery. The pinnacle of the tour is, of course, the food. Guests enjoy supper on board — a whole lobster you just learned to break down, served with potato salad and coleslaw.
DINE BACK IN TIME
Stepping back in time is easy at Kings Landing near Fredericton. Strolling the open-air museum’s historic buildings and chatting with period clothing-clad interpreters about life in the Wolastoq (Saint John River) valley in the 19th century is an immersive cultural experience, but eating history is next level. Sip on an ale by candlelight on the first floor of the King’s Head Inn or savour a taste of the past in the upstairs dining room, which specializes in traditional pub fare like a ploughman’s lunch and Mrs. Long’s turkey pot pie served with a side of the dense brown bread the inn is famous for.
RIVERSIDE JAVA
Paradise smells like roasting coffee blended with morning river mist. Fredericton-based Second Nature Outdoors offers a sunrise paddle tour on the Saint John River that starts with a canoe out to Hartt Island, where your paddling baristas and guides will explain how to roast coffee over a campfire. Sipping on maple lattes and munching on local pastries and cheese with river views is the perfect way to begin the day.
CHOCOLATE DIP
It’s all about dipping at Ganong’s factory in St. Stephen. The secret technique of hand-dipping the chocolates is so prized you aren’t allowed to take pictures of the live demonstration at the Ganong Chocolate Museum (but there are free samples). Founded in 1873, Ganong claims to have been the first to popularize the heart-shaped box for Valentine’s Day. As the scent of warm chocolate floats through the air, a museum tour includes everything from the early methods of chocolate making to the story behind the Ganong candy dynasty’s famous Pal-o-mine bar.
NICHE MARKET
Every Thursday night in the summer, Fredericton’s historic downtown awakens as live music and delicious aromas emanate from the Garrison Night Market. Food is the main draw at this bustling market and a stroll down Food Alley is a global journey, with vendors serving up delectable dishes from Indonesia and the Philippines, Mexico and Senegal, El Salvador and Jamaica.