From a facility on Vancouver Island's Port Alberni, a coastal town where fishing boats dot the inlet visible from his office window, Nathan Gawalko is practising something nearly lost to time: traditional fish sauce fermentation.
It's taken enough time as it is for Nathan to acclimate himself to a slower pace. Five years into running Old Habits—one of Canada's very few fish sauce manufacturers—he admits with a laugh that he still hasn't fully adapted to the waiting game that defines his craft.
"It was great for the first couple of years," he says about trading kitchen chaos for fermentation's languid rhythms. "Then I started to miss it. I don't know what to do with that excess energy."
For readers who care about Montreal
Create a free account to read this story and access 3 articles per month, plus our weekly Bulletin.
![The Bulletin: Pogos and pét-nat, backyard burgers, and subscriptions to nonstop pasta [Issue #123]](/_next/image?url=https%3A%2F%2Fthemain.ghost.io%2Fcontent%2Fimages%2F2025%2F04%2FScreenshot-2025-04-02-at-5.51.52-PM-1.png&w=640&q=75)
![The Bulletin: Placing Bets on the Oscars, a Sugar Shack Street Fair, and Countryside Dining [Issue #172]](/_next/image?url=https%3A%2F%2Fthemain.ghost.io%2Fcontent%2Fimages%2F2026%2F03%2FDSC_0705.jpg&w=256&q=75)
