When I finished high school I went to live in California for a year and got hooked on what was then completely new to me as a Nova Scotian – tacos. They hadn’t become the popular treat they now are in the rest of the world. In fact, you never heard a mention of tacos in the media or could order them in restaurants.
About two years after I’d returned home to Nova Scotia imported taco kits started to show up in the grocery stores but at a ridiculous price. So the first trip back to the states had me me stocking up on taco shells. Two cases of them! I wasn’t sure whether I was breaking any rules bringing them back to Canada so I didn’t say a word about them when I crossed the border. For months afterwards tacos were a regular diet staple for me.
A friend of mine from Scotland smuggled in a tinned haggis. I know, you’re probably asking yourself “Why?” I think you have to be Scottish to appreciate onion, oatmeal and sheep organs cooked in it’s stomach. It made me have a very sick night. I don’t know if it was just the ingredients or the transatlantic trip in a warm suitcase that caused it. I’ve never tried haggis again.
My relatives in Quebec and Ontario have had me bring saurkraut, lobster, some Moosehead products like Radlers, and of course Alexander Keith’s beer. When my son and his family visit from Quebec I’ve asked for creton. What’s creton? It’s hard to explain. It is a spread made from pork byproducts that you put on your toast in the morning. Only old, rural Quebeckers still eat the stuff. Somehow I ended up trying it and loved it.
So, what have your far flung friends and relatives asked you to bring them? Or if you’re not originally from these parts, what have you asked family to bring from your old stomping grounds?
