A traditional taste of Acadian cuisine.

We on the East Coast can look to Nova Scotia's apple orchards and fertile dykelands as lasting memorials of the early Acadian contribution to our culture.

The first reference to apples in North America was recorded at Port Royal, NS, in 1605, which means that Samuel de Champlain and his merry men had to be planting apple trees long before Johnny Appleseed scattered his seeds in New England. But it was on the Acadian farms that the roots went deep. By 1698, some 1,500 apple trees were growing in the gardens of 54 families at Port Royal alone, and the planting continued as the French established new settlements farther from the fort. These included the Minas Basin and Grand Pré areas, smack in the middle of the Annapolis Valley, which became-and still is-Nova Scotia's apple growing centre.

Apples (and especially cider) had become not only a major ingredient of the Acadian diet, but French farmers supplied them to the English forces after the 1713 treaty had given Acadia to England. A couple of years after the Deportation, a British officer, Captain John Knox, referred to the apples as a most grateful treat to his soldiers who had existed so long on a salt diet, without fruit or vegetables.

"The French have been at great pains here in clearing and planting these orchards and indeed finer flavoured apples, and greater varieties, cannot in any country be produced," he wrote.

But the food that Acadians loved best was pork, particularly pork fat, which was usually salted, then soaked overnight in water to freshen before use. At Port Royal in 1708, it was recorded that "Nothing seems so good to them [the Acadians] as pork fat, which they can eat twice a day and still prefer to partridge or rabbit."

Generous amounts of pork fat appeared in soups, fricots, meat pies, over and under stuffed fish, in fish cakes, mashed into potatoes and turnips, cooked with other vegetables, including baked beans-and it even appeared in desserts for special occasions. Pork fat and molasses pie was one such favourite. The fat was rendered out and combined with molasses, flour, water and pan drippings. This was then poured into a pastry-lined dish, topped with a lattice crust and baked.

Other popular desserts included a flan or crepe made with eggs and pieces of fried pork fat; a salt pork omelette sprinkled with grated maple sugar; and little tarts filled with a mixture of pork fat, apples, cranberries, raisins and sugar. Salt or fresh pork was also mixed with molasses and boiled, then poured, hot or cold, over bread or crepes for dessert.

Acadians had and still have a strong love for molasses. Often, bread and molasses was all the dessert they ever wanted.

Potatoes, turnip and cabbage were the big three in the vegetable category. Potatoes and turnips were mashed together with an onion or two, some salted herbs and the ubiquitous salt pork, and fried until crisp. The same ingredients, with diced carrots added, appeared under a crust as a vegetable pie.

Potatoes were, and still are, the main ingredient in some of the best-loved Acadian dishes, including poutines râpées. Especially popular in southwestern New Brunswick but enjoyed throughout Acadie, these dumplings were a mixture of mashed and grated potatoes formed into balls with cubes of pork in the centre, and then boiled for two to three hours before serving with molasses.

Potatoes were also grated and used to make pancakes, sliced and baked in the oven, or fried on top of the stove. Or they would be rubbed with butter and roasted in the oven for an hour and a half. Another method was to slice and layer the potatoes with fried pork, cover with water and bake, much like a potato scallop. And almost every Acadian region in the Atlantic Provinces had its own version of fricot, a thick soup made with potatoes and meat, fish or wild game. Still popular today, the protein choice is most often chicken.

But probably the best-loved use of potatoes, particularly in Nova Scotia's Acadian regions of Clare and Argyle, as well as Prince Edward Island's Evangeline region, is to make râpure acadienne (rappie pie).

Potatoes are grated and squeezed through a cloth bag until all water and starch are removed. The liquid is then measured and the same amount of chicken broth is added to the grated potatoes. The potato mixture is cooked to a jelly-like consistency, after which it is layered with cooked chicken and onions in a roasting pan. Pork fat or bacon is laid on top and the pie is baked for a couple of hours until a golden crust is formed.

Sometimes rabbit or seafood, particularly clams, are used with or in place of the chicken. Many Acadians still love to pour molasses over their rappie pie.

After the Acadians returned from exile, for want of fertile soil they looked to the sea for their livelihood. Cod was the principal catch of the day, followed by haddock and pollock, although these fish didn't take to salt the way cod did. Cod is scarce now, but fish remains a popular dish in many Acadian homes.

All parts of the fish were eaten, including the head, cheeks and tongue. In parts of New Brunswick and Prince Edward Island, the liver and stomach were also eaten, the liver being stuffed into the stomach and cooked in the same pot as the rest of the fish.

The most common way of cooking the cod was to boil it in a pot with potatoes and salted herbs. But cod was also poached, stuffed and baked, or cooked in a heavy cream sauce. Freshened salt cod was, and still is, the hands-down favourite for fish cakes.

You'll still find traditional fare served in many Acadian homes, but like most busy people these days, food in the fast lane has entered even there. However, when it comes to holiday celebrations, most Acadians still turn to the traditional.

Considering the region's population of nearly 300,000 French-speaking people, you'd think it would be easy to get a taste of Acadian food when dining out here. But it isn't. It's out there if you search for it, but Acadian fare isn't as sought after as, say, Cajun cooking is in Louisiana. Perhaps we need a Paul Prudhomme, the famous Acadian descendant in New Orleans who added his own seasonings to a rather bland food and made Cajun cooking popular.

Any takers?