CULINARY DIVERSITY Feature


tour of the creative kitchens, and watch students from more than 70 nationalities at work, or dine at the onsite bistro to taste their creations.


region’s rich ‘terroir’ – a French word which loosely translated, means ‘sense of place’ – of farm-to-table foods. The destination is Hôtel La Ferme, which hosts the region's local growers and artisan chefs at its public square and popular farmers' market.


Also in Québec is the Gourmet Route, a self-guided tour through the world biosphere reserve of Charlevoix’s cider orchards to the culinary excellence in Québec City and the famous Auberge Baker Inn, to feast on smoked bison, pies and duck breast.


Festivals The picturesque town of Niagara-on- the-Lake in Ontario is a great place to shop and wander year-round but during the Niagara Icewine Festival in January you'll find produce from 20 nearby wineries. Icewine is a type of dessert wine which is made from grapes that have frozen naturally on the vine. Prince Edward Island’s abundant


seafood is mixed with authentic local entertainment, music and celebrity chef demos during the three-day PEI Shellfish Festival. Taste the best of the region’s oysters, mussels, lobster and clams every September (18-21 this year).


Activities Catch your own lobster with a cruise in New Brunswick’s Shediac Bay. Wannabe captains need not fear for their sea legs as an experienced lobster fisherman accompanies them and shows the correct way to haul in lobster traps as well as the best way to cook up a delicious catch. The Lobster Tales cruise ends with an onboard feast. Le Cordon Bleu Ottawa Culinary


Arts Institute is Canada's only campus for Le Cordon Bleu. Visitors can take a


Opposite page: Picnicking in Banff National Park. This page (clockwise from top left): eating out in Alberta; Jean-Talon Market, Montréal; wine tasting at Inniskillin Wines; Atlantic lobster.


Markets Throughout the summer and early autumn months farmers’ markets across the country are where you will find the very freshest produce from local farmers and producers. For example, Vancouver’s Granville Island Public Market has 50 permanent retailers and more than 100 day vendors selling artisan cottage-industry foods and hand-made crafts. In Toronto’s St. Lawrence Market visitors can take part in a cooking class at the Market Kitchen, to learn the secrets of great pizza making or braising. They will use fresh seasonal and locally- sourced ingredients, from elk to cheese, along with exotic goodies to make everything from pies to dumplings.


"Microbreweries are big business in Canada and Vancouver is becoming the largest producer of all, with at least 15 new and expanded breweries due to open by the end of 2014"


The Saint John City Market in New Brunswick is Canada’s oldest and has been trading for 135 years. The stalls still house butchers, sausage makers, fishmongers, cheese artisans, bakers and more, but these days international influences as varied as UK mushy peas and Korean ginseng tea have crept into the mix. In the same province,


Fredericton Boyce Farmers Market is open every Saturday with over 200 vendors offering local crafts, maple syrups, mustards and much more.


Breweries


Micro-breweries are big business in Canada. Vancouver is becoming the largest producer of craft beer in Canada, with at least 15 new and expanded craft


breweries expected to open by the end of this year –


bringing the


total number to around 40. Four of these – Main Street Brewing Company, Red Truck Brewery, Steel Toad Brew Pub and Big Rock Brewery – will be clustered in Vancouver’s historic Brewery Creek district, whilst the others will congregate in a different East Vancouver neighbourhood, giving the area an apt new nickname: "Yeast Vancouver." Each year the city hosts a Craft Beer Week in May/June. Ontario Group of Touring Companies’ craft brewery tours take drinkers behind the scenes of beer making, meeting brewmasters and tasting unusual beers, enhanced with red wine or made from the juice of blackcurrants or pumpkin, learning the intricacies of making award-winning beers and sample their varieties. Day and afternoon tours cover two beer regions: downtown Toronto and Kitchener/Waterloo/Guelph. To experience the history of brewing, drinkers can join actors in costume and step back in time to the maritime life in Nova Scotia’s capital, Halifax.


beer lovers how to turn hops into one of Canada’s most popular premium beers before finishing for quaffing time in a Victorian tavern with Maritime songs and stories.


Wineries


The Okanagan Valley lies east of Vancouver


and is known as the Napa of Canada. The Great Estates


of the Okanagan Wineries tour visits five including Canada’s most recognized and rewarded, Jackson-Triggs, and the first Aboriginal winery, Nk'Mip, where tasters can get an insight into First Nations culture too.


Another Canadian Signature Experience wine tour is found at Summerhill Pyramid Winery. The wine and the menu at this vineyard’s lakefront bistro is all organic. This quirky winery uses a geometrically precise pyramid modelled after the Great Egyptian structures to store its wine.


Alexander Keith’s Brewery was built TOP FIVE in 1820 and the interactive trip teaches


Foods to try


BUTTER TART – Butter, sugar, syrup, eggs and nuts in a pastry case. CANADIAN LOBSTER – Head to the Atlantic coast for the freshest lobster you'll ever taste! ICE WINE – A type of dessert wine, ice wine is made from grapes that have been frozen on the vine. Inniskillin winery in Niagara-on-the-Lake, Ontario, was the first to pioneer this in Canada. BERRIES – Native to the prairies, the super fruits are rich in anti-oxidants. MONTREAL BAGELS – Smaller & sweeter than the NYC versions, they are paired with lox and cream cheese.


SELLING CANADA • SUMER 2014 19


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