Page 37 - 2024-25 Travel Guide to Canada

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Rocky Mountain Resorts has its own 540
acre game ranch to provide for its lodges in
Banff, Lake Louise and Emerald Lake
(www.crmr.com/culinary). Chuck’s
Steakhouse in Banff offers a full-on taste of
Alberta raised beef with a platter containing
wagyu, Benchmark striploin and 45-day dry-
aged steaks (www.chuckssteakhouse.ca).
ONTARIO
COUNTLESS TASTE TRAILS AND
FOOD FESTIVALS
Home to the Ontario Pork Council, Stratford,
famous for the Stratford Festival, boasts a
Bacon & Ale Trail along with a Chocolate
Trail and seasonal trails such as Foraging for
Wild Edibles with Puck’s Plenty Foraging
(www.visitstratford.ca).
In Prince Edward County, pop into a
cidery, brewery, or ice cream shop for a cold
treat or sample fine pinots and chardonnays
at wineries in this picturesque area on the
north shore of Lake Ontario. Check out the
cool cocktail and food scene at the Drake
Devonshire (www.thedrake.ca/drakede
vonshire), enjoy fresh laid eggs for breakfast
at one of the bucolic B&Bs such as Wilfrid
Boutique Farmhouse (www.thewilfrid.com)
or sign up for a cooking class to learn the
tools of the trade at The Waring House
(www.waringhouse.com).
Butter tarts were a staple of pioneer
cooking in both Upper and Lower Canada
(now Ontario and Québec). The Kawarthas
Northumberland Butter Tart Tour has grown
to over 50 locations throughout the area
(www.buttertarttour.ca). The townships of
Minto, Southgate, Wellington North and
West Grey’s have a self-guided Butter Tarts
Trail (www.wellington.ca/en/business/
tr-buttertart.aspx).
Ottawa is home to the only Canadian
campus of the renowned Le Cordon Bleu
French cooking school (www.cordonbleu.edu/
ottawa). C’est Bon’s gourmet walking tours
are an ideal introduction to the National
Capital Region’s vibrant food scene (www.cest
bonottawa.ca/food-tours).
Ontario has several hundred annual
culinary-themed festivals and events many of
which are listed in their on-line calendar
(www.ontarioculinary.com/events).
QUÉBEC
A GOLDMINE OF FRENCH-
CANADIAN SPECIALTIES
New France’s first inhabitants ate hearty
meals to cope with the rigours of everyday
life and the cold winter climate—evolving a
distinct home-cooking style over the
centuries that became Québec classics, such
as: tourtière, meat and pork pie; cipaille, a
layered wild meat pie; fèves au lard, baked
beans; cretons, a fatty pork spread; tarte au
sucre, sugar pie; and soupe aux gourganes,
broad bean soup (www.bonjourquebec.com/
en-ca/to-see-and-do/delicious-discoveries).
Maple syrup plays a big role in traditional
food with some 13,300 producers in the
province. In spring, Québécois gather at
around 90 cabanes à sucre (sugar shacks) to
enjoy baked beans, oreilles des crisse (crispy
pork rinds), and pancakes all drenched in
maple syrup (www.bonjourquebec.com/
en-ca/to-see-and-do/delicious-discoveries/
sugar-shacks).
From Petite-Rivière-Saint-François to La
Malbaie, epicureans treat themselves to a
gastronomic adventure on the Charlevoix
Flavour Trail which features some 20
specialty producers and 16 restaurants
(www.tourisme-charlevoix.com/en/what-
to-do/routes-and-circuits/flavour-trail).
The Eastern Townships, renowned for
its gourmet cuisine, has dozens of local
producers and agritourism locations
(www.easterntownships.org/tag/296/
createurs-de-saveurs-local-producers) as
well as a good number of restaurants with a
history and tea stops (www.easterntown
ships.org/taste-the-townships).
Montréal counts several hundred chefs
including many top names. But it is also
famous for bagels (St-Viateur and Fairmount)
and smoked meat (Schwartz’s and Main
Deli). The city is host to many annual food
festivals and events, from the most famous
Montréal Highlights Festival to La Poutine
Week (www.lapoutineweek.com).
In the Laurentians, the Chemin du Terroir
is a signposted trail that takes travellers
through more than 226 km (140 mi.) of country
backroads and byways, with delicious food and
drink discoveries at every turn (www.lauren
tides.com/en/chemin-du-terroir-0).
THE MARITIMES
THE GLORY OF SEAFOOD
The culinary scene has exploded in Nova
Scotia. The two seafood trails—the Nova
Scotia Chowder Trail and the Nova Scotia
Lobster Trail—offer a collection of restaurant,
retail and fisheries experiences that highlight
the province’s incredible seafood products
(www.novascotiaculinarytrails.com).
In New Brunswick, travellers can build
their own trail to farmers’ markets, restau-
rants and sites via the website (www.tourism
newbrunswick.ca/food-and-drink). There
are tasty snacks hard to find anywhere else,
like dulse—a salty sea treat—and hearty
Acadian dishes. Visitors to Acadian Sturgeon
and Caviar will meet owner Dr. Cornel Ceapa
(a PhD in sturgeon biology) who raises
sturgeon to sell around the world.
Canada’s Food Island Culinary Trail and
Dining Guide in PEI directs people to the
Island’s distinct regions, each with its own
culinary traditions, as well as to restau-
rants, farmers, fishers and local markets
(www.canadasfoodisland.ca/culinary-
trail). In Fortune Bay, visit long-time
Islander and Food Network Chef Michael
Smith’s FireWorks at The Inn at Bay
Fortune, where a 25-foot brick-lined, wood-
burning fireplace in the centre of the
restaurant is the anchor for the “Fire
Kitchen”—every dish is cooked over fire
(www.innatbayfortune.com). The four-
day International Shellfish Festival
includes shucking competitions using local
Malpeque, one of the world’s finest oysters;
about ten million are harvested every year
(www.peishellfish.com).
Newfoundland is known for its seafood
and traditional dishes such as salt fish and
brewis (made with hard tack or dry bread) and
Jiggs’ dinner (boiled salted beef and vegeta-
bles). At remote and gorgeous Fogo Island Inn,
ingredients that most often find their way
onto guests’ plates are those that are fished,
farmed, and foraged right on the Island
(www.fogoislandinn.ca).
THE NORTH
WILD HARVESTS UNDER
THE MIDNIGHT SUN
In the Yukon, Michele Genest and Beverley
Gray are authors of the books The Boreal
Gourmet and The Boreal Herbal, respectively.
They explain what you can harvest in the
“Land of the Midnight Sun.” At Gray’s Aroma
Borealis Herb Shop in Whitehorse, visitors
can arrange to join her on a seasonal foraging
outing (www.aromaborealis.com). Michele
Genest offers workshops and events, along
with her latest cookbook, The Boreal Feast
(www.borealgourmet.com). Also in
Whitehorse is Wayfarer Oyster House, where
local produce anchors each dish.
Whatever their fancy, wherever travellers
go in Canada, they are sure to find their taste
nirvana.