Page 28 - 2026-2027 Travel Guide to Canada

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LONG TABLE DINNER, PEMBERTON, B.C. •
© MAURICE LI/DESTINATION CANADA
Food: A Taste
of Canada
BY MARGARET SWAINE
The culinary scene in Canada boasts delicious taste
trails and unique regional dishes from coast to coast.
Creative young chefs reinterpret Canada’s regional
dishes, showcase diverse influences and play with
exotic spicing. Heirloom produce from local farms,
indigenous wild foods foraged from the forests,
organic meats and fresh seafood are among their
cherished ingredients.
BRITISH COLUMBIA
BOUNTY FROM THE OCEAN,
FORESTS & LAND
Specialties on the menu in British Columbia
include wild salmon, golden honey mussels,
spot prawns, Dungeness crab, B.C. bison,
Haida Gwaii halibut and Salt Spring Island
lamb.
There is a wide range of guided culinary
tours—sometimes led by chefs—in southern
B.C., particularly in the Okanagan Valley, the
new home turf of Canada’s first UNESCO City
of Gastronomy. Be sure to head to Kelowna. Go
for city tasting tours in Victoria, Vancouver
and Whistler (www.hellobc.com).
Cornucopia Whistler is an annual 11-day
indulgence of local food and drink that pairs
homegrown chefs with top B.C. producers,
breweries, distilleries and wineries
(www.whistlercornucopia.com).
In Victoria, Off the Eaten Track continues
to lead small-group culinary walks through
historic districts (www.offtheeatentrack
tours.ca). Foraging tours are now popular
across Vancouver Island and the Gulf
Islands. Participants discover B.C. ingredi-
ents in the forest: nettles, mushrooms and
spruce tips (www.swallowtail.ca).
THE PRAIRIES
GRASSLAND GRAINS AND
RANCHLAND MEATS
Manitoba’s Parkland region has a self-guided
Cinnamon Bun Trail with additional bakeries
and cafés (www.parklandtourism.com/
attraction-category/cinnamon-bun-
trail/). In season, Winnipeg’s Exchange
District and West End remain culinary
hotspots, offering guided and self-guided
tours through diverse restaurant scenes
shaped by Ukrainian, Filipino, and
Indigenous influences (www.exchange
district.org/food-tours).
Saskatchewan has more than 40 percent of
Canada’s cultivated farmland and Saskatoon’s
culinary scene takes full advantage of it.
Saskatoon anchors the province’s culinary
identity, with restaurants emphasizing
hyper-local sourcing, heritage grains, and
nose-to-tail cooking.
In Alberta, as Canada’s ranch heartland,
wild game is plentiful. Canadian Rocky
Mountain Resorts has its own game ranch to
provide for its lodges in Banff, Lake Louise and
Emerald Lake (www.crmr.com/culinary).
ONTARIO
COUNTLESS TASTE TRAILS AND
FOOD FESTIVALS
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.cestbonottawa.ca/food-tours).
In Prince Edward County, 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).