Does anyone who still posts on eGullet, other than me, live in Nova Scotia right now?
I have been a bit depressed lately about where I chose to buy a house, despite the fact that this area is beautiful, I am very close to the ocean from whence all manner of wonderful seafood is supposed to come, and I have a large house with good bones (and got it for a steal compared to what I might have paid for it located anywhere else in Canada), with a large kitchen - in which I store way too much food considering my household consists of only me and my dog now but I rarely cook any more (on the stove - the IP and my electric wok have seen a lot of use recently however). I eat what I like somehow despite all but it is a lonely feeling to think I may be the only one here with whom I can discuss culinary topics of regional interest with any success!
The truth of the matter is that, while I think Peter the Eater (whose posts I have been re-reading lately and drooling over) and my childhood travels in this area, convinced me that Nova Scotia was full of interesting and delicious food havens, the place I chose to move to in Nova Scotia is definitely not even close to where those may be. I should have known that a place sometimes referred to as 'the end of the world' may indeed actually deserve that description, at least when it comes to food choices.
Canso (which includes the small enclave of houses where I live, called Hazel Hill, just a mile down the road from Canso) was once a bustling fishing port but has seen very sad times of late. This is now a town of very old (and constantly dying) people, all of whom have (or had, in the case of those who have passed on now) magical stories of the 'olden days' but who have lost heart. One can find music occasionally but little laughter here any more. There are still fishermen here but most go away to fish or only fish to feed their own families it seems. There is still some 'fish packing' done locally too but I gather only for seafood to be shipped elsewhere - and there isn't much of it from what I can tell.
When I bought my house here a few years ago, I had visions of throwing large dinner parties, replete with fresh looking/tasting colourful foods followed by fun, laughter filled, musical evenings with people dancing and singing and playing their instruments - 'kitchen party' or ceilidh-style in my dreams. I can see now though that that dream will never come to fruition unfortunately.
I have lived in quite a few small towns in my life - the first being in the Yukon, far from the madding crowd and definitely far from a known purveyor of 'fresh' foods, and Frobisher Bay/Iqaluit where one fresh orange was hard to find and 10 times the price of that which was bountiful down south. I know what the food drawbacks may be in such places, but this one takes the cake. Somehow we managed up north to prepare foods that, even if a bit different from what the 'locals' ate regularly, was accepted and eagerly tried and enjoyed. I was always able to find others wherever I lived who appreciated colourful, fresh foods presented in an appetizing manner - except here it seems. They may be here (or nearby) here too but so far I have yet to unearth them - and I find the local cuisine is definitely not to my tastes - current or prospective.
The local co-op grocery store where, especially in winter, I am often forced to shop has recently changed 'distributors' and the shelves have been 're-lined', supposedly to make things easier to find but, from my perspective, they just showcased what the locals are eating even more sharply than ever before - and it is not good. Just about everything, on every aisle, is ultra-processed (and mostly 'junk') food, full of chemical components that one cannot even pronounce. The 'fish/seafood' products, even those labelled as fresh, are mostly, according to the 'meat guy', shipped in from everywhere else and defrosted/relabelled. The laws now say that is ok I gather. There IS local fishing but the laws there, for some reason I cannot yet fathom, also mean that it cannot be sold in the local store or from the local docks (legally). Rarely do I see any product still made or produced in Nova Scotia or even Canada in this local shop. There is hamburger - but it comes in a tube and is repackaged in house. I am getting very picky in my old age I guess but I won't touch it because I have no idea where it comes from or what may be 'in' it. Much of the 'meat' actually seems to come in plastic tubs labelled 'riblets' - they sit on shelves and the floor away from the refrigerated section. Apparently those are a big seller. For me, that is so unappetizing that I cannot bring myself to buy them to try. And it seems no one here uses fresh herbs at all. Even the local pizza parlor uses only canned and jarred toppings, nothing fresh. And this is definitely a white Wonder bread, bologna and margarine town. At any rate, I buy chickens for my dog at the local grocery but very little else lately since it so depresses me. 10 minutes walking around and reading labels there takes my appetite completely away - but I am sure that is helping me lose a bit of weight and saves me money (except on the $15 chickens) though so there is always a silver lining I guess. 
I have tried, very carefully, to talk to locals about what foods they like to eat - but, frankly, what they like to eat these days, is what that store carries. I can survive fine but it makes me sad that I cannot see a way to invite any of them for those dinners I pictured because, though I know they would be polite, I am now fairly certain that the food I like to make is so far removed from what their traditional local tastes are they would either not eat much or they would not like it. I just cannot cook according to their tastes - I would get it wrong given my now longstanding love of 'fresh' foods with colour and a lot of 'taste' but not drowned in gravy any more or coated with fat and accompanied by one carb after another. I don't want to do that to them. They like their fish and seafood mostly deep-fried - a technique I never really liked but definitely cannot handle these days. I like my seafood much more 'nekkid' so to speak. They like their food overcooked and much of it sweet - sweet meat, sweet salads, sweet coated vegetables and heavy sweet desserts - as I discovered when I was once invited next door for dinner - where frankly I did what I would expect those same neighbours to do if they came here - I ate a bit and was polite but went home hungry. Unless I prepared something very safe in summer like perhaps a well done plain steak on the grill and offered sweet steak sauce to go with - I might chance that sometime - I just don't think I can accommodate them - and as a hostess that would be, as it always has been, my primary aim. So, as a good neighbour, I give them groceries once in a while (a few steaks I have found far afield, some freeze-dried treats - which they accept politely but honestly look horrified at) and I have received the odd bit of lobster or shrimp back on occasion which I accept with delight - but they do not divulge their secrets as to where they get them.
I am certain that other areas of the province are culinary heavens - there is amazing food to be found in places like Halifax I know, and in the valley (Annapolis) but here ... not much that I can see unfortunately.
I am ok personally when it comes to the food I like to eat. I am getting a bit bored but what I like is often quick to prepare which is good. I eat a lot of Asian primarily - heavy on the veg and light on the meat, with a zing to it all - (thank you, sriracha! - which I cannot buy here either) though some of the ingredients can be difficult to obtain within a day's drive of here. In essence though I have found that this place is just not the fresh food and seafood haven I had hoped it might be and I fear it will be years before I can move again, if ever - so I better get used to it!
I can 'garden' and someday I will set up my indoor garden fully and I have my freeze-dryer (something that no one here has a clue about) but what I am missing most I think is the companionship of 'foodies' (hate that term but you know what I mean) in some proximity, especially those who may have or who still live in the north/northeastern area of the mainland, who have 'tips' for me on where to go to find the true jewels when it comes to foodstuffs - including the secret hideaways for buying really fresh local seafood, the 'grass fed' animals and free range eggs and 'organic' veggie farms. Summer is better when I can roam a bit but even that is iffy since I don't quite know where to roam (and roaming these days with an aging large dog isn't the easiest either). There are farmer's markets in summer (though again one needs to drive at least 70 miles each way and get there early morning - not something I am good at doing) but if there are other secret places to get things like that closer by, I don't know about them.
I am not related to anyone here - and the network of 'related' folks is very tight - they keep their secrets well apparently or they just don't have any of that sort more probably. Funeral fare (I haven't yet seen a wedding - there are few young people left here any more I gather) is like what I remember from childhood - white bread egg/cheese/lunchmeat sandwiches and 'butter tart' rich, sweet squares. This is the standard served at all social and business meeting functions from what I can gather. I generally offer my condolences and depart fairly quickly when that part of the ritual is ushered out of the kitchen. I feel badly at those times (even though I know I won't be much missed) but I think it better to leave than to sit with an instant coffee and an empty plastic plate in front of me when these very friendly and genuinely nice people feel it is their responsibility to make me eat something - and I know I just can't bring myself to do so. My bad. I now have a personally trained palate and aesthetic sense that no longer seems to fit in a small town of this type (non-transient). It is not their fault.
If I had a million dollars, I would start a restaurant here and take the massive losses that I would be certain to incur as I tried to 'educate' the locals (at a price they can afford to pay - this is a poor area now) about anything other than what I call 'junk food'. But, I don't and I am realizing I am too old to take on that crusade, even if Jamie Oliver were to visit my establishment on a weekly basis to help promote it all. I asked about what kind of a restaurant might work here and was bluntly told that unless one sold hamburgers, hot dogs, french fries and (crappy) ice cream (and little else) to forget even trying. Not even good pizza with fresh and different toppings (i.e beyond pepperoni and cheese) would fly here. I thought about offering to give cooking demos at the grocery store but a) there is no room in those crowded junk food aisles to set up a station and b) after numerous conversations with the locals I have determined they are just not open to real 'change' in their diets no matter what I might convince them to taste under those circumstances and c) it would probably devolve into me inserting frozen breaded highly processed chicken bits into a Cuisinart oven and trying to make some kind of sauce that replicates the taste of the sweet commercially produced stuff they like to dip that sort of thing into around these parts.
It just makes me sad that the locals see no other option but to eat a massive amount of junk food. I am no 'angel' but I don't eat processed foods if I can help it and I am still chunky, but, it is sad to see so many Canadians, especially around these parts, who must be now composed primarily of chips and candy, boxed and frozen pizza, and fake 'side dishes' out of a package - since there is little else they can buy in the store. In larger, less remote places, they at least have options so it is more their fault than those of the stores - here, I can only blame the 'distributors', an evolving tradition based on foods probably best eaten if one is working outdoors under harsh circumstances year round, and governments who have stopped even locals from buying their own fishing 'products' in favour of importing shrimp and other seafood from polluted warm waters in far east countries, or, even though more local, 'farmed' fish raised under circumspect conditions off our own coast.
I should mention that, if I can describe or preferably show a package of a product I would like to see stocked, the store will try (not always successfully) to bring it in but then I am the only one who buys it and the rest may go bad if I don't buy it all which makes me feed badly so I don't do that much any more. I have also toyed with the idea that someone (me, if I had that million bucks) should just start a store that would stock all the things I think people (especially me) should be eating/using/etc. but which are unavailable here currently - but again that would be a real losing proposition here.
Ok .. I am going back to being upbeat and doing most of my posting about the marvels the rest of you get to experience from the fresh foods around you in warmer or more western climes. And then in a few weeks I will drive back down south and enjoy what I can along the way and during my stay there so that I don't feel so sorry that I cannot find the same in this area - because the locals are not interested in that sort of fare and what they demand IS eventually what the store will/would stock - which I believe would be better for everyone. Ah well - can't fight city hall it is said.
Having dumped all that (with which I have no doubt unfortunately discouraged anyone new from ever moving to or visiting this area of a very beautiful province 
- sorry about that), I will reiterate my first question ... does anyone on eGullet still reside in (any part of) Nova Scotia, other than me? I know Darienne has some family in Halifax but I don't think they post here, do they? Anyone else?
