East Coast chef Stephen Barrett talks Seasoned Plate and Nova Scotia's growing food scene

When chef Stephen Barrett was growing up in Happy Valley-Goose Bay, N.L., he never pictured a future in the world of food. 

Living in Labrador, dinnertime at home could mean everything from wild blueberries to seal flippers, making the most of what they had around. 

Over the years, Barrett has gone from teaching in a classroom to working in professional kitchens on the other side of the world, somewhere along the way establishing his Seasoned Plate blog. 

Over 21,000 Instagram followers later, Barrett is based in Waverley, outside Dartmouth, highlighting Nova Scotia’s culinary scene as it grows. 

“It’s not just little old Nova Scotia on the East Coast of Canada anymore,” Barrett said. “We’re a world-class region as far as food and drink is concerned.” 

Journey to food: from N.L. to Australia

Barrett started his education at Laval University in Quebec before moving to Nova Scotia to study at St. Francis Xavier University in Antigonish. It was there his interest in food was sparked, with Barrett crediting his university housemate, who often handled making meals. 

“His father was a chef, and he was a really good cook,” Barrett said. “He kind of sparked my interest beyond traditional food that I grew up with.” 

However, cooking was not something he sought out right away. After finishing his education, Barrett became a teacher, spending time in Toronto before moving to Australia with his now wife. 

It was there, while teaching high school, the chance arose to go to culinary school through a government program aimed at encouraging people to enter the skilled trades. 

“When the opportunity came up for me to be able to go to culinary school and get those qualifications, I jumped on it, and I think it was overall a good decision,” Barrett said. 

Initially going into culinary school with the intention of being a food critic, the journey required long days filled with balancing his career teaching with working in a kitchen as an apprentice. 

“I would leave the school at four or five or whenever we finished for the day and then go to the restaurant and put in my apprenticeship hours and work for free till midnight and repeat.” 

Barrett said his experiences working in professional kitchens were a long way away from the glamourous “rockstar lifestyle” sometimes depicted in media. 

“It was tough, and I think we don’t need to romanticize kitchen work. It sucks. It’s physically, mentally, emotionally exhausting.” 

Barrett started Seasoned Plate around 2015, while still living in Australia. There, he began exploring local food and writing restaurant reviews. 

“It was just a way for me to keep writing, keep engaged, keep exploring the food and drink scene of where I was.”  

Back in Canada during the pandemic, Seasoned Plate became a business through a Skype call with a friend from university.

The partnership made it so Barrett was able to expand what was a food blog into a popular social media account for food reviews, leading to regular TV appearances and other opportunities, including being presented with the Influencer of the Year award in 2019 from the Restaurant Association of Nova Scotia.

“Since then, it’s kind of blown up from there with things like food reviews and writing, (TV) appearances and all of that,” he said. 

“The thing about Seasoned Plate is it’s something I’m going to be doing regardless so why not put a little bit of work in and see where it can go. “ 

Seasoned Plate sits at 21,200 followers on Instagram.

Beyond reviewing food, Barrett works with local businesses and tourism groups, develops recipes and uses his platform to put a spotlight on Nova Scotia food. 

So, what led to a Newfoundland and Labrador-born, Australian-trained chef to settle in Nova Scotia? 

Initially, his family. 

Barrett and his wife, who is from Antigonish, left Australia after seven years, following the birth of their first child, returning to Canada to be closer to family. However, he realized the culinary scene had changed. One thing he noticed was the growing number of quality restaurants, not only in Halifax but all over the province. 

“You can go to New Glasgow or Digby or you name it,” he said. “There are excellent restaurants that are as good as anywhere all throughout this province. “ 

Many put an emphasis on local produce and using seasonal ingredients, which Barrett credited as a defining feature of Nova Scotia food.

“People get super excited every year when the Valley strawberries come out, or there’s the ice wine festival in the winter, or corn throughout the summer, or lobster where the season is open, ” he said. 

From Barrett’s perspective, the food scene in Nova Scotia is constantly changing, no longer just the lobster and seafood many have come to expect. He credits part of the change to immigration, saying it has led to local ingredients being used in new ways, influenced by food from all over the world. 

“We’re representation of place, but not in a traditional way anymore,” Barrett said. 

One example he gave was Tiger‘s Lanzhou Hand-Pulled Noodles on Spring Garden Road in Halifax, where they handmake noodles for soup to order. For Barret, the small spot is an example of the options available. 

“I think that traditional food is awesome and it’s delicious,” Barrett said. “But there’s also an opportunity here to have the finest of fine dining, or the most traditional hand-pulled noodles you’ve ever had outside of Asia.”

Despite the changes, Barrett said, some restaurants fall into a habit of keeping things as they always have been, especially when catering to tourists. 

“Peggys Cove, for example, you’re probably not going to get anything but lobster rolls,” he said. 

“That’s fine, but maybe someone’s willing to take a risk and try lobster another way.” 

That isn’t to say Barrett dislikes lobster rolls or traditional Nova Scotia food. Instead, he wants places across the province to take more risks and experiment with what they are making while still highlighting locally sourced food. 

He said the province’s regulations on food are strict and can limit the full extent of what can be served. According to Barrett, many shy away from things like wild-game meat, which restaurants cannot sell in Nova Scotia; it is allowed in Newfoundland and Labrador.

“People aren’t dying because somebody is bringing game to the restaurant for them to serve,” he said. “I think that’s limiting the possibility of what we could be, and it’s a shame because there is greatness in all of that.” 

As his platform grows, Barrett has had to find a way to balance being honest with his audience, while also supporting local businesses. He said his desire to promote Nova Scotia food can make him pause when posting about more negative experiences, not wanting to affect people’s livelihoods.

“That’s really difficult,” he said. “If something isn’t good, I think people should know about that.” 

He said he always strives to be honest with his opinions in a space where many may lack his background and education. 

“People don’t know what they’re talking about. They’re just there for the free meal, and that has never been Seasoned Plate’s goal,” he said. 

“If you look, generally speaking, everything is excellent according to most people saying stuff online.” 

To ensure he keeps his work as authentic as possible, Barrett said, he will disclose any paid partnerships and won’t take a free meal in exchange for a good review, sometimes offering partnership opportunities to places that reach out. 

“If I’m going to come in and eat, I’m not going to just take a free meal for a positive review. . . . I feel that the space is saturated with people that are doing that,” he said, adding that it is up to the public to look for trustworthy reviews over outlets solely based on popularity or flashy content. 

Barrett wants to use his platform to highlight those building Nova Scotia’s culinary sector. He said he hopes to use Seasoned Plate as a way to promote the province’s lesser-known chefs and businesses he felt didn’t always get the praise they deserve. 

“I want to highlight people that are doing really good work,” Barrett said. “I love getting out there with a film crew and actually talking to people doing good work in their restaurant or brewery or winery or what have you. “ 

Despite how Seasoned Plate has grown, Barrett’s goal remains unchanged, that being to find the food and stories he feels are worth sharing 

“I want to continue to highlight people doing good work. Get out there, do a bit of cooking and be doing work myself,” he said. 

“As long as I can continue to be a positive space for people to engage with, and maybe that encourages someone to try something new, I feel that I’m doing my job. “