In Nova Scotia, the Halifax Seaport Farmers’ Market creates a sense of community that is true of all farmers’ markets; it brings growers, makers and shoppers together in a space that fosters meaningful interactions. The market holds primary producers and farmers, as well as prepared food stands and cooks that offer a range of cuisines. Market-goers can grab a bite at one of the tables, and leave with a bag-full of fresh ingredients for the week.
Team Lead at the Halifax Seaport Farmers’ Market, Sarah Rector, has seen the market evolve tremendously over the eight years she’s worked there. Despite a global pandemic and unprecedented extreme weather incidents in the province, the market not only survived, but has thrived. “A key word that all farmers markets should be recognized for is adaptability,” says Sarah. “As we continue to grow, the vendors figure out how they can best serve the locals, visitors to the city and first-timers to the market.”
Related: A Guide to the Halifax Waterfront Food Kiosks
Last year the operation successfully navigated moving to a new location at Pavilion 23 — an open and airy 45,000 square foot, steel-framed building overlooking the Halifax Harbour — filling over 100 tables each Saturday and 60 each Sunday. “I’m so happy with where we’re at right now. The people who attend are local champions and truly are the core of the market,” Rector says.
Read on for our favourite stalls at the Halifax Seaport Farmers’ Market — that said, each stall in the market offers something special, so you really can’t go wrong no matter where you shop.
Bliss Bowls
Close your eyes, take a bite of the Ocean Bowl at Bliss Bowls and you’ll be transported to a tropical island with crystal clear water and an endless supply of fresh fruit. Bliss Bowls’ smoothie bowls are plant-based, made-to-order, blended to a consistency of soft-serve ice cream and topped with different combinations of super foods and sauces. The Ocean Bowl — their best seller — is blended with banana, mango, pineapple, almond milk and spirulina, which gives it a beautiful bright blue colour. Every bowl is a mini work of art, sprinkled with homemade hemp seed granola and fruit sourced straight from the farmers at the market. Bliss Bowls have developed hype and a returning customer base in part for their homemade chocolate chip cookie dough topping. The chickpea-based dough is creamy, decadent and packed with protein — a perfect pairing to the cold and fruity base.
Masita
Masita is best known for its Korean BBQ Hot Dog, a fusion dish that draws in Haligonians’ taste buds with familiar flavours, while introducing them to the best of Korean cuisine. The hot dog is grilled and topped with crunchy cabbage, as well as a choice of pork bulgogi, teriyaki chicken or tofu. Customers can give the dish some heat with a spicy mayo, or keep it mild with a classic mayo. Masita’s entire menu allows for customization to be inclusive of everyone’s individual palates. The food stand’s signature bowl with smoky BBQ pork, sweet potato noodles and fresh veggies is everything you could ask for in a meal: balanced, nutritious, filling and delicious. It’s no coincidence that “Masita” means “tasty” in Korean.
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New Caledonia Farm
Owner of New Caledonia Farm, Noah Pohlkamp-Hartt, grows produce that you’ll be able to taste, see and smell the difference in from food at the grocery store. With a background in holistic nutrition, Noah is a young farmer who brings a unique perspective to the market, sharing his passion for high quality food and informing market-goers on the specific differences they’ll notice. New Caledonia Farm’s garlic heads, for example, pack a far punchier — almost spicy — flavour which is brought out through a natural growing process called “no-till” farming. In fact, the entire farm is “no-till” — meaning there is no mechanical disruption to the garden beds in an effort to retain the soil’s organic microbiology and nutrients. From the beautiful brightly coloured salad greens to the perfectly crunchy baby tomatoes — everything that you see laid across the market table at New Caledonia Farm is truly what you get.
Noggins Corner Farm
Noggins Corner Farm is a multi-generational family owned and operated business and one of the longest-running vendors at the Halifax Seaport Farmers’ Market. The Bishop family founded it a century before Canada even became a country. Located in present-day Greenwich, Nova Scotia — about an hour and a half north of downtown Halifax — Noggins Corner Farm consistently provides a wide array of fruits and vegetables to the market. The farm is well known for its apples, selling over 25 different varieties, as well as two homemade apple ciders: a classic sweetened version and a hard cider. The stall’s offerings are season-dependent, including peaches, plums, sweet cherries, raspberries, kale, alfalfa sprouts, green onion, zucchini and peppers.
Related: The History of How African Food Culture Influenced Nova Scotian Cuisine
Oakview Farm
In the coastal community of Kingsport, on the border of the Minas Basin, you’ll find a small but mighty operation called Oakview Farm. Oakview Farm has been in business for 27 years, and selling at the Halifax Seaport Farmers’ Market for over a decade. Haligonians flock to their stall each summer for their famous strawberries and peaches, which are both juicy and super sweet without fail. Oakview Farm is pesticide-free and fertilizes its fruit and vegetable crops with primarily compost and manure. The waterfront farmland also has free-range chickens, a small herd of beef cows and laying hens which provide the market with gorgeously spotted eggs. Despite losing their best-selling fruit products to a polar vortex and summer flooding this year, owners Kevin and Jennifer Graham still managed to have a successful season thanks to their strong community relationships as well as their greenhouse-grown fruit and vegetables. Oakview Farm is living proof that adaptability is strength.
Ocean to Plate Seafood
After more than 30 years of working in Nova Scotia’s fishing industry, Troy Atkinson got tired of seeing fresh fish get loaded onto a boat or truck to be shipped internationally. Troy began Ocean to Plate Seafood in 2020 with a mission to ensure Haligonians always had access to locally-caught seafood. Freshly shucked Maritime oysters line Ocean to Plate Seafood’s stall at the market, alongside seasonal specialties like swordfish and tuna, and year-round favourites such as scallops and lobster. You’re guaranteed freshness in any seafood you choose, with all of it sourced straight from MSC-certified sustainable fisheries the day before the market. Ocean to Plate Seafood also serves a rotation of prepared foods, including a creamy seafood chowder, Nova Scotia lobster roll and smoked salmon cream cheese bagel.
Related: Our Favourite Canadian Seafood Restaurants From Coast to Coast
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Pinoy’s Best
Chrissy Zentura draws on her vivid memories of traditional Filipino flavours to craft the menu for Pinoy’s Best. Ever since she moved from the Philippines to Canada in 2012, Zentura has missed eating her favourite food: steamed pork buns. In the Philippines, steamed buns were readily available at her local grocery store, but in Halifax, they were nowhere to be found. Zentura began experimenting in her home kitchen, trying to recreate the flavours she was craving. Her end goal? To register as a business and bring the buns to the Halifax Seaport Farmers’ Market for the whole city to try. Zentura has been operating Pinoy’s Best from the market since June of 2022, starting with the perfected pork bun recipe and expanding to offer pork and shrimp siomai, as well as two additional steamed bun flavours: vegetable and chicken. Zentura’s steamed bun dough is fluffy-as-a-cloud and satisfyingly chewy. Each of the fillings are equally delicious, salty and a little bit sweet.
South Shore Sea Salt
Good cooking salt makes a difference, especially when it’s sourced just a drive away from the waters of St. Margaret’s Bay in Hubbards, Nova Scotia. Rebecca Wilson is the founder and creative mind behind South Shore Sea Salt, which brings premium flaky salt to the market in all sorts of amazing savoury flavours like chilli lime, rosemary thyme and lemon. Rebecca’s first spark of inspiration came in 2018, a few years after she had studied abroad in England. Each time her family would visit, they’d stock up on British sea salt and bring it back home to Hubbards. Wanting to recreate something that was so well established on the other side of the pond but almost nonexistent in Nova Scotia, Rebecca filled a jar with sea water, filtered it through a coffee filter and put it on her family home’s kitchen range — creating her very first sea salt. From a home experiment to selling out of product at farmers markets and online, South Shore Sea Salt continues to be processed on the Wilson’s family property, by Rebecca’s mother, Marsha, and brother, Andrew.
Read more: The Delicious History of the Halifax Donair