Showing posts with label local food. Show all posts
Showing posts with label local food. Show all posts

Friday, August 4, 2017

A cabbage cure for migraine headaches! #FoodwaysFriday



"My Grandmother, Mary Jane Gosse, had a ‘cure’ for migraine headaches. I’m familiar with it having been her patient several times. The treatment was this. A dark green cabbage leaf was soaked in strong vinegar, place on your forehead and carefully tied on with a sock, nothing else, and kept there until the headache was gone. My guess is that the stinging of the strong vinegar hurt more and the headache was soon forgotten."

- Wesley Gosse, Stories and Stuff Spaniards Bay, page 31. March 2007.

Friday, July 21, 2017

Memories of Historic Places: A Trainful of Mary Brown's Secret Recipe Dough


Over the past couple of weeks I have been researching the Gordon G. Pike Railway Museum and Park. Erected in 1881, this building was once the station for the Harbour Grace Railway. It is a small, one-story, hipped roof building located on Military Road in Harbour Grace. 

I always enjoy hearing people's memories of places, but here on Friday afternoon, as suppertime approaches, one story, as told by Patrick Collins, stands out in particular:

"I remember the train coming down with a load of Mary Brown’s secret recipe.  Aboard were boxfuls of secret recipe dough that they use for the deep fried chicken at Mary Brown’s which is here in Harbour Grace. And I remember that being quite secretive; the owner coming up and saying, 'make sure none of those boxes are stolen.' There was a freight shed that was right next to the station that is gone now and that was very securely looked after."

I can imagine how exciting it must have been for the employees of the station, entrusted with protecting the sacred deep fried chicken formula that has become a staple to many Newfoundlanders. It must have been difficult to resist sneaking a peek of the secret recipe. 

If you or someone you know has a memory of the Harbour Grace Railway station, please contact Katie at katherine@heritagefoundation.ca or (709) 739-1892 ex. 7.

-Katie Harvey

Friday, June 16, 2017

#FoodwaysFriday - What is your favourite type of baked bread?

Bread making workshop. French bread before going in the outdoor oven, Conche, Newfoundland.
Photo by Lisa Wilson. 2010.
When we discuss foodways of Newfoundland and Labrador the first food that often comes to mind is the codfish. Cod has played a major role in everything from the province’s economy to its culture. It is featured in many traditional dishes however it is not the only food tradition in the province. Seafood and fish, caribou, seal, sea birds, berries, root vegetables, and imported products such as molasses and tin milk all play a part in the province’s food traditions. In celebration of the diverse foods harvested, grown, cooked, and eaten in Newfoundland and Labrador we will be doing a #FoodwaysFriday feature on the ICH Blog.

This week we are featuring a series of photos from a bread making workshop in Conche from 2010. The French Shore Historical Society has an outdoor oven where they bake French style bread. The loaves are served hot, right from the fire, a traditional way of baking bread that very few people practice today. In the spring, 2010, the FSHS held a bread baking workshop for members of the community. From mixing and kneading dough, to monitoring the fire's temperature, every part of the process was explained and demonstrated.

If you want to learn more about French bread baked in Conche, NL click here to view the photos from the workshop!

Share your stories and knowledge of food with the hashtag #FoodwaysFriday.
Nora Hunt making bread. 1970. Conche, NL.
A Pictorial from the Northeast Coast of Newfoundland.
Virtual Museum of Canada.
~Terra Barrett

Friday, May 26, 2017

#FoodwaysFriday - Sealing Vessel Memories

Unidentified sealing vessel in ice. PF-323.048. Donor: John Connors, 1998.
Maritime History Archive - International Grenfell Association Lantern Slides.
When we discuss foodways of Newfoundland and Labrador the first food that often comes to mind is the codfish. Cod has played a major role in everything from the province’s economy to its culture. It is featured in many traditional dishes however it is not the only food tradition in the province. Seafood and fish, caribou, seal, sea birds, berries, root vegetables, and imported products such as molasses and tin milk all play a part in the province’s food traditions. In celebration of the diverse foods harvested, grown, cooked, and eaten in Newfoundland and Labrador we will be doing a #FoodwaysFriday feature on the ICH Blog.

This week we are featuring an interview with Mr. Mark Johnson of Little Catalina. It was recorded in 1999 in Port Union for the Sir William F. Coaker Heritage Foundation and digitized by the Heritage Foundation of Newfoundland and Labrador. The interview focuses on Mr. Johnson’s work experience and his time in the seal fishery.

Mr. Johnson shares stories about his time as a wheel master on several sealing vessels, memories of hunting on the ice, and the conditions of the sealing vessels as well as stories about William Coaker and Port Union, boat building, cod fishing on the Labrador, sailing, and World War Two. This audio interview also includes a full transcript which is key word searchable.

If you want to learn more about Mr. Mark Johnson’s working life click here to read the transcript!

Share your stories and knowledge of food with the hashtag #FoodwaysFriday.

~Terra Barrett

Friday, February 3, 2017

#FoodwaysFriday - Name that meal!

Photo by Meghann Jack.
Last Thursday Dale, Kelly, and I drove to Marysvale for a series of oral history interviews as part of the Collective Memories project. The interviews took place at the Heritage House which functions as a museum and tea room during the summer. The community has received some funding to have the interviews fully transcribed and these first four interviews were sent to a transcription company in central Canada over the weekend.

We received the full transcripts this week and noticed something a little curious. During the interview with Patricia Whalen and Shirley Ryan, the pair discussed garden parties in the community. They were talking about a particular food which was eaten at the party as well as taken away. The transcribers in mainland Canada were unable to figure out what food was being discussed. Read the excerpt or listen to the clip below and let us know what food they were talking about!


Shirley: And when I first moved down here we had garden parties. I'd never seen a garden party, I mean we had fairs up in the mainland, but garden parties, oh my gosh … Oh it was marvellous.

Dale: So what would happen at a garden party?

Shirley: They'd have little boats for the children and they spin wheels for numbers and they had boats and … Oh it was grand … In the churchyard … Either that or in the hall … On the hall. It was great, oh my gosh. And they had a big meal. [Unintelligible 00:32:12] plates, everybody would go in the hall and sit down and pay for their [unintelligible 00:32:17] plate and have it … Either that or takeout.

Patricia: Take it home.

Shirley: Either one.


Name that meal!
~Terra Barrett

Friday, January 27, 2017

#FoodwaysFriday - Berries with Bridget Jacobs

Local blackberries - also called black crowberries, heathberry, earthberry, and curlew berry in some locations.
When we discuss foodways of Newfoundland and Labrador the first food that comes to mind is the codfish. Cod has played a major role in everything from the province’s economy to its culture. It is featured in many traditional dishes however it is not the only food tradition in the province. Seafood and fish, caribou, seal, sea birds, berries, root vegetables, and imported products such as molasses and tin milk all play a part in the province’s food traditions. In celebration of the diverse foods harvested, grown, cooked, and eaten in Newfoundland and Labrador we will be doing a #FoodwaysFriday feature on the ICH Blog.

This week we are featuring a series of photos and videos taken by Maureen Power with Bridget Jacobs of Joe Batt’s Arm. The collection features a number of local berries including blackberries, marshberries, tea berries, blackcurrants, goose berries, raspberries, partridgeberries, poison bush, blueberries, crackerberries, and blue herts. Maureen takes short video clips of Bridget showing her the location and type of berries. Bridget also gives little stories about the berries including the clip below where she describes how blackcurrant cured her niece when she was sick.

If you would like to see the full collection click here!

Share your stories and knowledge of food with the hashtag #FoodwaysFriday.

~Terra Barrett