Food & Wine USA - (06)June 2020

JUNE 2020 87

WHERE TO EAT

The Chip Shack whips up

many riffs on the glorious

mess that is FWTW, fries

with the works. (Charlotte-

town, the-chip-shack.com)

The Blue Mussel Cafe

offers upscale seafood with

potatoey sides of all kinds.

(North Rustico, bluemussel

cafe.co m)

The Inn at Bay Fortune’s

FireWorks Feast is a flam-

boyant immersion into

high-end farmstead cooking,

with lots of fresh-shucked

oysters. (Souris, innatbay

fortune.com)

Lobster on the Wharf

offers old-school lobster

suppers, complete with

steamed new potatoes.

(Charlottetown, lobsteron

thewharf.com)

Nimrods’ turns out tantaliz-

ing pizzas from a floating

Neapolitan oven in

Charlottetown’s harbor.

(facebook.com/nimrodspei)

Point Prim Chowder House

ladles up exemplary chowder

in one of the most beautiful

spots on the island. (Belfast,

chowderhousepei.com)

Richard’s Fresh Seafood

serves hand-cut fries to go

with crispy fried haddock

and lobster BLTs. (Yo rk ,

richardsfreshseafood.com)

WHERE TO STAY

The Holman Grand Hotel is

near the water in Charlotte-

town; the best rooms have

balconies overlooking the

harbor. (Rooms from $350,

theholmangrand.com)

The Inn at Fortune Bridge

(Rooms from $400, Souris,

innatbayfortune.com) offers

a quieter stay in antique-filled

rooms than its nearby larger

sister property, The Inn at

Bay Fortune. (Rooms from

$285, innatbayfortune.com)

WHAT TO DO

The PEI Potato Blossom

Festival in O’Leary is a true

small-town gala: Think pag-

eants, parades, fire truck

rides, and fireworks. (See

website for latest informa-

tion; peipotatoblossom

fe stiva l.co m)

The Canadian Potato

Museum delivers some

kitsch and a lot of enlight-

ening information on the

history and cultivation of

potatoes. (O’Leary, canadian

potatomuseum.info)

their names on slips of paper so that Visser could keep track

of what he owed them.

“We have some really early land, quite sandy and light, so

we can plant it with early-maturing potatoes,” said Visser. “We

involve the kids. Even though they’re in a rural setting, how

exposed are they to what farming is about? Do they know how

a potato grows? There’s such a disconnect nowadays. I think

it’s good for them. It’s work, but it’s fun.”

And it’s lucrative. They’d be paid $6 a crate; a few weeks ago,

when the spuds were scarcer, they had earned twice as much.

Soon, the new potatoes would be gone. By October, the bulk of

the crop would be harvested. Then the tubers, built for storage,

would sit until their turn came for market.

“The whole design of the plant is to take energy from the sun,

water, and nutrients and put it in the potato,” Visser explained.

“Then it flowers and dies; the tuber forms a skin, gets hardy,

and goes dormant. It’s amazing how that plant’s made to feed

people. It’s designed for exactly what we’re doing with it.”

Flowering, digging, storing, eating—that cycle is so important

that the three weeks or so when the plants are in bloom is cel-

ebration time. I spent my final night on PEI in O’Leary, home

to the Canadian Potato Museum, where a 14-foot fiberglass

spud perches at the entrance. The cafeteria was serving up

airy potato biscuits, and in a historical exhibit, I learned that

the price of potato blossoms had ballooned in 18th-century

Paris after Marie Antoinette wore a garland of them in her hair.

The farmers of O’Leary seemed almost as excited about the

flowers as did the prerevolutionary French. The town was hold-

ing its 51st annual PEI Potato Blossom Festival. In an off-season

ice rink ringed in banners for advertisers like H.F. Stewart

potato handling equipment, the farmers’ banquet ensued. The

newly crowned Miss Potato Blossom served Little Miss Potato

Blossom a healthy portion of mashed potatoes from the buffet

line. Plaques were handed out for the Hired Hand Award, the

Potato Producer of the Year.

The farmers needed this party; 2018 had been tough, with

a drought that caused spuds to grow in knobby fits and starts

and an autumn deluge that left the fields a quagmire. In his

remarks, Robert Henderson, then PEI’s Minister of Agriculture

and Fisheries, blamed climate change. The speaker who fol-

lowed said, “I’m going to be short and sweet. I’ve seen potatoes

coming up. They have flowers on them. Something is positive.

I hope every one of you has one of the biggest crops that you’ve

ever taken in.”

The next morning brought the Canadian National Potato

Peeling Competition. Peelers flying, a team wearing potato-

sack vests denuded 10.4 pounds of spuds in minutes and

clinched the title. Festival chairperson Faye MacWilliams stood

up. “Please support our farmers and eat lots of potatoes,” she

implored.

Intending to do just that, I headed back to Charlottetown for

one more potato-laden chowder before I flew, a farmstand bag

of PEI new potatoes smuggled in my luggage.

clockwise from top left: Lobster traps await their

next catch; smoked oysters kick off the FireWorks

Feast at The Inn at Bay Fortune; a young field hand

gathers potatoes at the Visser family farm; Potato

Salad with Fresh Corn and Basil (recipe p. 92) with

Barbecue-Spiced Potato Chips (recipe p. 88)

PRINCE EDWARD

ISLAND BY POTATO

PRINCE EDWARD ISLAND

Gulf of Saint Lawrence

NOVA SCOTIA

N E W

BRUNSWICK

North Rustico

York

Souris

Belfast

Orwell

Cove

O’Leary

Victoria

Charlottetown

MAP: WINSLOW TAFT. PHOTOGRAPHY (POTATO CHIPS AND POTATO SALAD): VICTOR PROTASIO; FOOD STYLING: MARGARET MONROE DICKEY; PROP STYLING: CLAIRE SPOLLEN

0620_FT_Spud_Island_PEI.indd 87 FINAL 4/15/20 3:10 PM