Savouring Ile d’Orleans Written and Photographed by Joely Rogers
People go on vacation for different reasons, the main ones being
relaxation, adventure, and new experiences. While these are all
valid motives, this past summer I took a vacation to seek the
past, specifically a past in the form of my upbringing in southern
Mississippi, as a child of the soil. Strongly nostalgic memories
of foraging for blackberries, digging “Irish” potatoes
from the damp dirt and making daily biscuits with my grandmother
still haunt my mind. Our family was always thinking about the
next meal, and walking out into the garden was akin to a visit
to the local grocery store. These southern foodways are mostly
extinct in my home region, especially with the advent of hurricane
Katrina, which destroyed tradition along with property. Wal-Mart,
sadly enough, has replaced the garden. In any event, I went seeking
a place where I could relive that connection to the soil, if not
with foraging and digging, then most definitely in eating! I found
it far north in the French-speaking Canadian province of Quebec,
on a little island called Ile d’Orleans.
Ile d’Orleans, or Orleans Island if you are an Anglophone,
is a bucolic eater's paradise perched on the St. Lawrence River
approximately 20 kilometers from downtown Quebec City. The island
has one bridge - Pont de Ile, connecting it to the mainland and
one main road - Chemin Royal, which transects its six parishes
– St. Pierre, St. Famille, St. Francois, St. Jean, St. Laurent
and St. Petronille. Each parish has its own church, village and
shops. Often called “the garden” of Quebec City, the
island is largely a rural farming community and home to cider,
liquor and cheese makers, artisan bakers, chocolate shops, and
purveyors of bison and foie gras. Quebecois cuisine is the focus
of every restaurant on the island’s menu and I was eager
for my first real taste of it.
My companion and I crossed Pont de Ile shortly before noon on
a misty Thursday in July. The only plan was to spend the day eating
our way around the island. Lunch was at Cassis
Monna et Filles, in St. Pierre parish. Cassis Monna is a cassis
(black currant liquor) maker with a fully stocked cellar of cassis
for purchase and a seasonal cafe. We dined on fresh baguettes
stuffed with local cheese and ham while sipping Cassis Sangria
out on the covered patio. Our view included the St. Lawrence,
rotund currant bushes used to create the cassis, and a rustic
cassis- processing barn to the rear. Seated across from us was
a group of twenty-something’s earnestly engaged in conversation,
switching between French and English at dizzying speeds punctuated
by bites of baguettes and sips of sangria. After a lazy walk through
the currant bushes, with a stolen taste of the tartly sweet berries,
we headed to Chocolaterie Ile d’Orleans in St. Petronille
parish to try their desserts. What we found at this lovely little
chocolate shop was finely crafted French-style pastries –
mine the “Bahia” layers of puff pastry filled with
rum-soaked bananas and chocolate, and for my companion the “Sorious”,
a thick gobbet of dark chocolate mousse with pate-a-choux and
almonds.
After dessert and a quick couple of espressos, we took a leisurely
drive around the island. Strawberries were in full season and
we stopped at the look-up tower in St. Francois parish for dream-like
aerial views of fields with swaying strawberry pickers and the
almost purplish-blue Laurentian Mountains in the distance. I picked
many a strawberry as a child and can admit as an adult that watching
is not quite the same as picking! Next stop was Domaine
de la source a Marguerite in St. Famille parish, a cider maker
who distills their product from apple trees on the premises. During
the summer, you can purchase a glass (or bottle) of cider from
the boutique and enjoy it on the front patio or out back on the
picnic tables in the apple orchard. The staff encourages you to
taste all the ciders before settling on a purchase to imbibe.
We needed little encouragement and sipped our way through a selection
of light and hard ciders. Our clear favorite was the blackcurrant
& maple syrup hard cider – sweet AND strong! If you
do decide to buy a bottle, the friendly staff is happy to wrap
it up for the trip home.
Our final stop completed a full circle of the island at Restaurant
d’Ancetres in St. Pierre parish. We enjoyed a rich dinner
of duck breast slathered with local honey and island-raised bison
steaks coupled with an exquisite view of Montmorency Falls from
our candlelight table. Lingering over a Crème Brule with
fresh strawberries, fully satiated and lulled by wine, I pondered
my original goal of reliving the past by coming to a place of
the soil. Some say memories of childhood are sweeter than the
actuality and this could be true. The foodways of my childhood
were a necessity rather than a pleasure, brought on by poverty
of income. We foraged and dug because that was how we ate, food
– unlike money, can and does often grow on trees. As a generative
adult, I now have adequate income and leisure time; however, I
have not forgotten my past. Perhaps I cannot, and do not want
to fully relive the often harsh times involved with growing and
gathering your own food. Nevertheless, I did experience and subsequently
relive on Ile d’Orleans that same deep and true connection
to the soil – the literal lifeblood of the Earth, which
sustains and nourishes not only our bodies, but also our hearts
and spirits.
Joely Rogers
is a former pastry chef and cooking teacher whose next foray
is graduate school to study linguistics. Reach her at sophron30@yahoo.com.
