Discovering Salt Spring’s burgeoning food scene
Story and photos by Pamela Young
The Scholarship brings students from other Gulf Islands to high school on Salt Spring
I settle in with a heather-infused local beer on the Moby’s Pub deck, savouring the view of Ganges Harbour. The water ripples up to a rocky beach, the boats in the marina riding quietly at anchor. A squawking seagull wheels in and lands on the dock. I’m glad for the glowing heater next to my table—in spite of the more-like-August-than-October warmth on Salt Spring Island today, autumn evenings by the ocean still feel like autumn.
“I know not all that may be coming, but be it what it will, I’ll go to it laughing.” – Herman Melville, Moby Dick
The first time I sat on this deck was a sultry August evening in 1992. When I arrived at the Wisteria Guest House, the owners Dee Hellicar and Jean Brown—always the Wisteria Sisters to me—recommended a newly-opened pub down the road. At the time, this was a big deal because there wasn’t much choice on Salt Spring—a few places in the Ganges townsite, pubs at the ferry terminals and restaurants at a couple of slightly upscale hotels.
Salt Spring had cuddled up to my heart in the 1980s, and I adopted it as my solo escape from all things Edmonton. For a few days every year, I immersed myself in the quietly quirky Salt Spring culture, surrounded by artisans, aging hippies and assorted others whose quest for an alternative lifestyle had attracted them to the Island.
I took my Salt Spring recollections out of the attic last fall when I was looking for a gentle post-pandemic travel destination. It had been twenty years since my last visit, and I was curious to see how the Island had changed. The float plane from Vancouver dropped me off at the Ganges dock, and with my memory leading the way, I dragged my wheelie suitcase behind me until I saw the familiar Wisteria Guest House sign. Although the sisters had sold long ago, the open front door and display of pumpkins on the porch in the fall sunshine told me that I’d be as welcome here as when Dee and Jean were the proprietors.
David Wood’s Cheese Company cafe.
The Cheese Stands Alone
David Wood, the owner of Salt Spring Island Cheese company, joined me for coffee in Ganges on my first Salt Spring morning. We reminisced about the 1990’s version of the small-batch food scene—farmers and bakers and other culinary makers selling their goods at the Saturday market, from their homes, or from honour box roadside stands, with few aspirations to grow their businesses.
When David and his wife left Toronto in 1990, looking for a rural setting to raise their children and a home-based, money-making opportunity, they had a more upscale concept in mind. They became cheesemakers, something neither of them had ever done. They bought sheep, learned how to care for and milk them, acquainted themselves with the cheese-making process, built a barn and a milking parlour. Six years later, Saltspring Island Cheese opened its doors. A year after that, they began producing cheese from Vancouver Island goat milk, which now accounts for 100 per cent of the company’s cheese production. They added a farm shop in 2004, a seasonal cafe in 2012, and now employ a staff of between 25 and 45 people, shipping 75 per cent of their cheese off-island.
Salt Spring Island Cheese was a frontrunner in Saltspring’s now burgeoning artisan food scene, which has paralleled the continuous arrival of many affluent permanent residents and second homeowners. I looked longingly at a map that shows small batch food businesses in all corners of the Island: Woodshed Provisions for gourmet soups, mains and desserts; the Saltspring Kitchen Co. for jams, preserves and hot sauces; Garry Oaks Estate Winery and Salt Spring Wild Cider. Coming to Salt Spring as a foot passenger has advantages, but I’d need a vehicle to access most of these businesses from Ganges. Memo to self for my next visit.
Howard (Buzzy) Busgang of Buzzy’s Luncheonette
A Jewish Deli on an Island with More Bears Than Jews: “The business plan of a madman.”
This is how Howard Busgang describes his decision to leave his LA-based comedy writing career to open a Jewish smoked meat deli on Salt Spring. In 2017, Howard’s wife fell in love with the Island on the ferry ride. When they walked by a vacant bakery near the outskirts of Ganges, she said; ‘Why don’t we open a little smoked meat place and if it doesn’t work out, you’ll have an office to write in.’ Howard had been smoking meat for family and friends in an attempt to recapture the flavours of his Montreal childhood. Although he had no experience running a restaurant, Howard says her plan “sounded reasonable to me.”
In June 2018, he and his family launched Buzzy’s Luncheonette, its name inspired by Busgang’s family nickname and Wilensky’s Light Lunch, a 90-year-old Montreal cafe, which embodied the nostalgia, warmth and memories of a simpler time that Busgang wanted for his deli.
Buzzy’s tasty Island-smoked corned beef sandwich
Although they were nervous about their chances of success—Howard admits they didn’t know how to work the cash register the night before they opened—Salt Springers provided encouragement, offers of bread for the sandwiches and home-grown cucumbers for making pickles. They lined up for the cheekily-named smoked meat sandwiches—the Hungry Jew and the Rabinowitz—his wife’s latkes and rugelach, the chance to read the jokes on the wall and to sit at a table reserved for Barbra Streisand.
Howard is thrilled that customers love Buzzy’s food. But he hopes his passion project serves an even greater goal. “We love people so much. We want them to remember the experience of coming to visit us. It’s one thing to serve the public good food, but it’s another thing to feed their soul.”
Service Station for the Lighthearted
On the second day, I spotted a restaurant close to the south edge of Ganges that I could have sworn was a gas station the last time I was here.
Mike Jacobsen doesn’t remember the gas station itself. But after he and his wife moved to Salt Spring in November 2022, he often walked by the building that housed it and was intrigued by its 1950’s vibe. “Something cool needs to be in that space,” he thought. With more than 20 years of experience at places like Tofino’s Shelter Restaurant, Toronto’s King Taps and the Cactus Club corporate office, he was ready to take on a new project. He contacted the building’s tenant, took over the space in May 2022, and opened the Cassette Cafe and Dive Bar less than three months later.
Cassette Cafe and Dive Bar
The Cassette Cafe, which occupies the space where service station customers would have bought a pop, booked repairs and paid for their gas, is a nod to Mike’s nostalgia for the 1980s tape deck and VCR era. The Dive Bar captures the unvarnished garage atmosphere. Both the Dive Bar and the Cafe exude a gritty charm. Mike loves the juxtaposition of patrons enjoying “delicious food and drinks with great people and a fun vibe in a former gas station.”
My visit to Moby’s was like going home. In its 30-plus years, it’s survived multiple owners, a brief closure, a stint as an upscale oyster bar, tough financial times and a pandemic. Dale Schweighardt, who brought years of pub management experience with him when he took over Moby’s in 2013, recalls his early struggles to win over the community. But the residents warmed up to him and to Moby’s when he and his wife bought a house on Salt Spring. “When I invested in the community, then people were ready to invest in me.”
Since then, Dale has created a popular gathering place, where all ages are welcomed. The menu features creative choices and the entertainment reflects diverse musical tastes. He’s accomplished his vision with tenacity and good humour. A sign on Moby’s new patio tells patrons that although the patio is dog friendly, “Loud, aggressive or wandering animals will be asked to leave. So will their pets.”
In the 1990s, three days in Ganges was more than enough time to sample most of Salt Spring’s food offerings. Now, thanks to the imagination, risk taking and persistence of the Island’s food trailblazers, I’d need a month—and a vehicle—to sample everything on the menu. As I reboard the float plane, I’m already mulling over how to do just that.
Author’s Notes
- Salt Spring and Saltspring are both acceptable spellings.
- The first inhabitants of Salt Spring Island, Hul’q’umi’num and SENĆOTEN speakers, called the Island Cuan, which means each end, or Klaathem, which means salt. Ganges village is known as Shiya’hwt/SYOWT, meaning place of caution, possibly in reference to a sea monster believed to live in the harbour.