The Fiddlehead

The Fiddlehead Moment

For many Canadians, the small province of New Brunswick on Canada's scenic east coast is "a nice place to visit but no place to live," plagued for generations by outmigration and economic stagnation. In The Fiddlehead Moment Tony Tremblay challenges this potent stereotype by showcasing the work of a group of literary modernists who set out to change the meaning of New Brunswick in the national lexicon. Alfred Bailey, Desmond Pacey, Fred Cogswell, and a formidable group of local poets and cultural workers - collectively, New Brunswick's Fiddlehead School - sought to restore New Brunswick's literary reputation by adapting avant-garde modernist practices to the contours of the province, opening it to the contemporary world while also encouraging writers to make it their subject. The result was a non-urban form of modernism that was as responsive to technical innovation as to the human geographies of New Brunswick. By placing New Brunswick writers and critics at the forefront of Canadian literature in the midcentury modernist project, Tremblay adds an important new chapter to our understanding of Canadian modernism. The Fiddlehead Moment is the first critical examination of this group's considerable influence. Whether through Bailey's ethnomethodology, Pacey's critical ordering, or Cogswell's editorial eclecticism in the Fiddlehead magazine and Fiddlehead Poetry Books, authors in New Brunswick, Tremblay argues, had a profound impact on writing in Canada.

The Fiddlehead

The Vermont Farm Table Cookbook

For farm-to-table cooking and dining like you've never seen it, Vermont is the place. Small, independent farms are the lifeblood of Vermont’s agriculture, from the sweetcorn grower to the dairy goat farmer to the cheesemaker whose locally sourced goat milk chevre becomes the heart of a new dish by a chef in Montpelier. While this farm-to-table cycle may be a phenomenon just hitting its stride in the United States, it has long been away of life in Vermont, part of the ethos that Vermonters use to define themselves. As such, Vermont exemplifies a standard of small-scale, community-minded, unadulterated agriculture that has become a national model. When Tracey Medeiros wrote Dishing Up Vermont in 2008, she wanted to showcase the chefs and restaurateurs who were dazzling taste buds with their fresh, whole-food creations. With The Vermont Farm Table Cookbook, Medeiros has traversed the Green Mountain State once again, in search of not only those celebrated chefs but the hard-working farmers who provide them with their fresh and wholesome ingredients as well. Collecting their stories and some 125 of their delicious, rustic-yet-refined, Vermont inspired recipes, Medeiros presents an irresistible gastronomic portrait of this singular state. Classics like Vermont Cheddar Soup and exciting innovations like Ramp Dumplings or Raisin Hell Pie will send you racing to your local farmers’ market in search of the ingredients. And with dishes that shout “only in Vermont,”like Wood-Fired Blueberry Pizza or Beer-Battered Fiddleheads, no matter where you are you’ll want to transform your tried-and-true menus into fresh and flavorful Vermont farm table suppers. Tracey Medeiros is a freelance food writer, food stylist, and recipe developer and tester. She writes a weekly food column for the Essex Reporter and the Colchester Sun and writes the Edible Farm column for Edible Green Mountains Magazine. Medeiros is also the author of Dishing Up Vermont. She lives in Essex Junction, VT.