Local Flavors

Nova Scotia's verdant landscapes and churning seas provide a feast for the eyes and one for the table as well. Residents contend that the best meals are made using local ingredients—Lunenburg lobster, Digby scallops, Atlantic salmon, Annapolis Valley apples—and generations-old recipes. If you're serious about discovering down-home favorites, seek out dishes with curious names like Hodge Podge (a summer staple of beans, peas, carrots, and baby potatoes, cooked in cream), Solomon Gundy (a pickled-herring pâté), rappie pie (a hearty stew, usually of chicken, with dried, shredded potatoes), and blueberry grunt (a steamed pudding made with Nova Scotia's finest berries). For more sophisticated fare, check out the fine-dining establishments in Halifax and the southern part of the province that put their own spins on Nova Scotian classics, preparing time-honored dishes with contemporary flair. The province’s annual free Taste of Nova Scotia: Culinary Adventure Guide (www.tasteofnovascotia.com) will help you find them. A companion Adventures in Taste app is also available, free, at adventuresintaste.ca.

For local libations, try a beer (or two) from the growing number of microbreweries. The Craft Brewers Association of Nova Scotia nscraftbeer.ca currently lists 19, including brewpubs, and six of them are in Halifax: Propeller, Rogue's Roost, Rockbottom, Garrison, North Brewing Company, and Granite. The rest are evenly spaced across the province, and all draw on the history of the region and produce distinctive ales, lagers, stouts, and other brews. Local wines are gaining in popularity and reputation as well. Try Jost from Malagash, Sainte Famille Winery from Falmouth, and Domaine de Grand Pré near Wolfville. The Winery Association of Nova Scotia winesofnovascotia.ca is a good source of information. And what better way to cap a Nova Scotian dinner than with a dram of the acclaimed Glen Breton www.glenoradistillery.com, North America’s original single-malt whiskey. (Nova Scotia may mean "New Scotland," but you still can't call it "Scotch" unless it's actually produced in Scotland.) In Gaelic, they call single malt Uisge beatha ("the water of life"): sip some Glen Breton, and you'll know why.