Social Profile
Food & Drink: The province boasts a hearty cuisine making full use of fat pork, molasses, salt fish, salt meat, boiled vegetables and soups. Fish is a staple food, predominantly cod made into stews and fish cakes, or fried, salted, dried and fresh. Salmon, trout, halibut and hake are also available. Brewis is a hard water biscuit that needs soaking in water to soften, then gentle cooking; often salt or fresh cod is served with scrunchions, which are bits of fat pork, fried and crunchy. Another speciality is damper dog (a type of fried bread dough), cod sound pie (made from tough meat near the cod’s backbone), crubeens (Irish pickled pigs’ feet) and fat back and molasses dip (rich mixture of pork fat and molasses for dipping bread). Pies, jams, jellies and puddings are made from wild berries. The minimum drinking age is 19.
Nightlife: A St John’s pub crawl is a real cultural experience, with a particularly strong English and Irish influence. Water Street and Duckworth Street offer fine restaurants and nightclubs. Newfoundland also has its own music, mostly English and Irish, which can be found everywhere in local festivals, nightclubs, bars, taverns and concerts. George Street in St John’s has become a club and restaurant zone and holds a variety of seasonal festivals. However, on the whole, night entertainment in many regions is scarce.
Shopping: Water Street in downtown St John’s is a must for any shopper – it is one of the oldest shopping streets in North America, and European merchants, sailors and privateers have bartered here since the 1500s. Handicrafts, Grenfell parkas and Labradorite jewellery are the best known products of the Newfoundland and Labrador area. Shopping hours: Mon-Wed 1000-1700, Thurs-Fri 1000-2200, Sat 1000-1800, Sun 1200-1700. (Malls generally open Mon-Sat 1000-2200.)
Social Conventions: Newfoundland society shows the dominant influence of northern European – especially English and Irish, but also French – settlers in its dialects, folk music and dance. Aboriginal peoples with distinct cultures and traditions include the Mi’kmaq on Newfoundland and the Inuit, Innu and Métis in Labrador. Geographical isolation nurtured a fiercely independent spirit in the province, which joined the Canadian Union as late as 1949.
Special Events: For full information on special events, contact Department of Tourism, Culture and Recreation (see Contact Addresses section). Listed below is a selection of special events celebrated in Newfoundland and Labrador during 2003:
Feb Corner Brook Winter Carnival. Jul Twillingate/New World Island Fish, Fun and Folk Festival, Twillingate. Jul-Sep New Founde Lande Trinity Pageant, Trinity. Aug Royal St John’s Regatta; Newfoundland and Labrador Folk Festival, St John’s. Oct Oktoberfest Craft Fair, Mount Pearl.
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