HRM Point of Interest #14: Halifax Farmers' Market (260th Birthday)

Founded in 1750, the Halifax Farmers' Market is the oldest continually operating Farmers' Market in North America. Located inside the Alexander Keith's Brewery, the "Old" Halifax Farmers' Market (a new one opened just last month on the Waterfront) celebrated its 260th birthday on October 2, 2010.

In honour of this momentous occasion, many of the vendors donned "period costumes". In the picture above a vendor sells some of her home-made fudge to an eager customer. Incidentally, the chocolate covered peanut butter balls in the front left corner were amazing, as was her vanilla fudge. Furthermore, this vendor also sold me the best tasting Jona Gold apple I have ever tasted, way back in May, just before I headed to Vancouver on the train.

Fall is upon us, and with thanksgiving and Halloween coming soon, the pumpkins were out in full force. After I work through my backlog of potatoes, beets, and turnips I plan to buy a large one of these and live off of cooked pumpkin for a month. On this day though I appeased my hungry stomach by eating delicious samosa from a Greek vendor, triangle kimbab from a Korean vendor, and some sort of soft round moist bread-like patties from a South American (possibly? I'm not sure exactly where she was from actually) woman.

Chuseok: September 22, 2010

It may not have anything to do with Canadian history, but September 22nd was the Korean holiday Chuseok (pronounced "chew-sock"). Chuseok is often described as Korean Thanksgiving since it happens more or less around the same time as our Thanksgiving. The main difference though, is that rather than celebrating the harvest (or simply a day off from school/work, which is how I think most Canadians view Thanksgiving), Chuseok in Korea is a time when families gather together to remember their deceased ancestors/relatives.

One of the many traditional activities that occurs at Chuseok is the making of songpyeon. Songpyeon is a form of pressed rice-cake (ddeok) that can be filled with an assortment of semi-sweet fillings. Traditionally in Korea, families would often get together and share their songpyeon creations with their neighbours. This practice can be traced back to around the 10th Century.

Earlier in the week my brother, EP Dan, and I had invited a Korean friend of mine - "English name" Joshua - and his wife over to our home. To return the favour, Joshua and Cristin (his wife) invited us over to their house for Chuseok (technically the day after Chuseok) to partake in a meal of delicious jabchae (among other things), and to make songpyeon.

(Left to right: Joshua, Cristin, EP Dan, EP Dave - me, sitting down for delicious Korean food.)

(EP Dan and I make songpyeon. We filled it with the delicious myung bean paste you can see in the bowl. Incidentally it's the same delicious paste found in jjinpang, which probably means nothing to many of you, but was a catalyst for many an adventure while I was in Korea.)

It was a wonderful night, and so was the afternoon spent at our house the weekend prior. While I'm having fun exploring Canada, I'm sorry to say that the most exciting part of living in Canada is hanging out with Koreans.