"When Steven Laffoley [a Bostonian writer, who moved to Nova Scotia in 1982] first arrived on the rocky shores of Nova Scotia, he discovered some rather exotic food fare: deep-fried seafoods, boiled crustaceans, and an otherworldly, post-beer, Middle Eastern fusion food called the donair. Far from the canned ravioli and Jell-O salads of his youth, Laffoley discovered that Nova Scotian food could be fresh and fascinating, frivolous and fun. As a result, he was determined to learn more. It just took him thirty-odd years to get around to it. When he did, he did so with a true cook's call to action. He began making elaborate meals with a single-minded effort to understand local food's relationship to people and place. In doing so, he discovered that he actually had a gift. Indeed, he possessed the exact gift his mother had. Not only was he a bad cook -- he was a spectacularly bad cook. Still, Bluenose fare had captured his imagination. So, no longer wanting to harm sentient life with his cooking, he set off with notebook and pen to discover the real story of food in Nova Scotia. What he found was a 10,000-year-old tale that was fascinating, funny, and just downright strange."--Back cover.