Warmth amid icebergs
Oscar Foulkes
May 20, 2009
Uncategorized
No comments
Telling people I’ve been, or am on my way, to Newfoundland never fails to draw a response. In Canada – of which the island is a province – some kind of suggestively disparaging comment about “Newfies” is likely to follow. On this point I’m not going to beat about the bush – Newfoundlanders may well, in a big city context, be naïve, and yes, with their Irish and British heritage their island accent doesn’t sound at all North American. But I defy anyone to find a group of people, anywhere in the world, that takes more sincere interest in having a conversation. The world can do with a whole lot more of this kind of down-to-earth, old-fashioned nice-ness.I have to admit, though, that I have also been guilty of exercising some prejudice with respect to Newfoundland. On Thursday night last week I presented a wine dinner in St John’s (having flown in at 1.00am, continuing my outrageous Canadian itinerary). The object of my discrimination was a raspberry sorbet. I was concerned that the acidity of the raspberries would ruin diners’ palates for the red wine to follow. And, if I’d had control over the menu, I may well have vetoed the sorbet. I needn’t have worried; the flavour of black Newfoundland raspberries is extraordinary, without any of the acidity I was preconceiving. In fact, it even complemented the Inkspot we’d been drinking.
They were the friendliest raspberries I’ve ever eaten, but then what else could one expect from Newfoundland?
Add your comment