Taste of Nova Scotia and Food Day Canada are pleased to announce the award for Most Creative Use of Nova Scotia Lobster.
The lobster industry is the largest fishery by landed value in Canada with export market value approaching 1 billion dollars in 2010.
We want to see which restaurants and chefs use our local, sustainable and nutritious (lobster contains healthy amounts of iron, zinc, calcium, and iodine, as well as vitamins A, B, and B6) Nova Scotia lobster in the most creative way.
Menus were submitted, then judged by the Food Day Canada Panel of Canadian culinary experts.
Lobster Award Prizes:
1) The Gold Award goes to Chef Nancy Hinton and Les Jardins Sauvage for her thoughtfully creative dish Lobster and Nordic Shrimp with Chickpeas and Lobster Mushrooms on a Cattail Pollen Dosa. She garnished it with sea asparagus, sumac crème fraiche and a cattail spear. Her prize is a Four-day Culinary Tour of Nova Scotia – including a lobster boat educational tour, hands-on experiences with local cheese, wine, seafood and artisanal food producers, locally-inspired meals as well as accommodations. Meet our passionate farmers, fishers and winemakers and learn about Nova Scotia’s plethora of quality local ingredients.
2) Claiming the Silver Award is Chef Jonathan Gushue who served forth Atlantic Lobster and Crisp Sweetbreads, Barley Grass and Nasturtium Leaves to his guests in the elegant dining-room of Langdon Hall Country House Hotel. His prize is registration to the Canadian Chefs’ Congress 2012 including accommodation hosted in Nova Scotia in 2012. (www.canadianchefscongress.com)
3)Tied for Bronze were Chef Matt Batey of Mission Hill Family Estate Winery and Chef Jason Bangerter of Luma of Toronto. Batey, one of the most talented chefs in British Columbia, created a Range pork & Fabian’s Ocean Wise Lobster ‘Hot Dog’ which he served in a ‘scratch-made’ milk bun, topping it with green tomato chutney, a real east coast specialty. Chef Bangerter created his own LUMA Lobster Burger using what he described as “Nova Scotia’s best”. He tucked it into Oliver & Bonacini artisan pain au lait serving it with heirloom tomato, crisp iceberg lettuce, tarragon and lobster oil mayonnaise. It was a huge hit at the recent Toronto International Film Festival. They will both receive A Taste of Nova Scotia – A $100 Taste of Nova Scotia gourmet gift basket featuring food and beverage products sourced directly from our quality driven members located throughout Nova Scotia. (www.tasteofnovascotia.com)
Taste of Nova Scotia
Taste of Nova Scotia is a unique, province-wide marketing program, whose members are committed to offering the very best culinary experiences and products that Nova Scotia has to offer. The Taste of Nova Scotia membership base includes more than 135 quality food producers and processors as well as a collection of the best restaurants in the province. www.tasteofnovascotia.com
The Canadian Lobster Industry
The lobster industry remains one of the few fisheries where each license must be owned by one harvester who in turns goes to the sea each day at the helm of his own vessel. There are close to 10,000 licenses in the five eastern provinces that feed a system of processing and live shipping plants from the Gaspe to Cape Island that produce dozens of different products sold in 40 countries. These plants support thousands of employees in the plants and in spin-off industries such as trucking, packaging, customs brokerage, etc.
This sustainable fishery is closely monitored by the Department of Fisheries and Oceans and is controlled by a system of trap limits, open seasons, size regulations, returning of females with eggs, escape vents for small lobster and many other conservation measures introduced over many years and supported by the harvesting community. Landings have increased dramatically over the years with a record harvest in 2010 of 125 million pounds. Harvesters today report dramatic numbers of very small lobster and an abundant biomass that bodes well for a healthy and sustainable harvest in the future.
Comments