When it comes to comfort food, we turn to carbs and heritage recipes
There are words that exist but live in the periphery. For me, pivot was such a word. Sure, I’m aware that the Earth pivots on its axis. I rarely used the word pivot; until 2020 when it became the new buzz word.
There were many opportunities during the last year to pivot, and sometimes the path forward was obvious but at other times it caught us off guard, such as with our 2020 recipe contest.
Typically, Linda Gourlay, Jodi DeLong and I head out onto the road, exploring various areas of Atlantic Canada. We connect with a local chef from that area who prepares the top 10 recipes, and we have local personnel who come into judge. That obviously could not happen. So, we pivoted.
We invited Crystal Murray, Jodi DeLong and photographer Steve Smith to come to the farm and be our celebrity judges. Johanne prepared all the recipes, I did all the food styling, and we all sampled, and debated, then sampled some more.
We learned a lot during this process. The theme of the 2020 contest was comfort food, and we learned that in a year when comfort was especially important, Atlantic Canadians turn to carbs!
The recipes that we tested were varied but they all had one thing in common…the taste of history was almost tangible. We discovered that real comfort food has legs…it has come from somewhere in our past. It sustains us in the present but transports us at the same time; into the kitchens of our grandmothers, her mother-in-law’s, and our aunts, to those places that brought immeasurable comfort.
When we announced the theme for the 2020 recipe contest, no one could have predicted what this year would bring. The fact that we chose comfort food now seems a bit serendipitous.
We are thrilled to introduce you to our contest winners.
Grand Prize Winner - Oatmeal Bread
1st Place - Canole's Baked Beans with Maple Syrup
2nd Place - Oliebollen (Dutch Fritters)
3rd Place - Melissa's Cinnamon Rolls