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The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge recently sampled the best of Canada’s cuisine during their royal trip. Rob Gill discovers that the destination has plenty on the menu for foodie clients.
What comes to mind when thinking about Canadian cuisine? Maple syrup, bacon, lobster, wild salmon and poutine (chips with cheese curds and gravy) are perhaps the most obvious headline dishes.
The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge got to sample more unusual fare during the couple’s official visit to Canada last month including the delicacy of geoduck clams, whose phallic shapes caused much tittering among the British press when the royal couple tucked in during the Taste of British Columbia Festival.
William and Kate were the star guests at the culinary festival, which featured some of the province’s finest chefs and was held at the Mission Hill Family Estate in British Columbia’s wine-growing Okanagan region.
Mission Hill is one of around 20 food and drink-orientated Canada Signature Experiences (CSEs) across the country. CSEs are a “curated collection of innovative travel experiences” accredited by Destination Canada. These include wineries, hotels, restaurants, cookery schools and gourmet tours offering Canada’s finest gastronomic experiences.
The Okanagan valley, which can be reached by a 30-minute flight to Kelowna from Vancouver, is well represented within the CSE programme with Mission Hill joined by fellow vineyards Summerhill and Great Estates Okanagan – a group of wineries including Sumac Ridge, Black Sage and See Ya Later Ranch. While the region is best known for ice wine, the Okanagan also produces high-quality reds and whites. The area is technically a desert and gets more hours of sunlight than any other wine-growing area in North America.
The other major food destination is Vancouver and there are plenty of culinary tours offered by operators such as Vancouver Foodie Tours in and around the Pacific coast city. Touring Granville Island’s famed market is one of the most popular options in the city – Vancouver Foodie Tours offers a two-hour trip to the market featuring 20 tastings of produce ranging from cheese and bread to honey and donuts. The market is also home to another CSE, Edible Canada, which has a restaurant and gourmet shop, as well as organising tours and events.
“We offer insider knowledge of the island and Canadian food experiences,” says Eric Pateman, president of Edible Canada. “The best way to experience and learn about a culture is through food.”
Whistler Tasting Tours runs dining tours of the ski resort that hosted the Winter Olympics with Vancouver in 2010. The company’s “progressive” tours visit several restaurants in one night to sample the best of Whistler’s food and wine. All tours are guided by locals to give an “insider’s view”. There is even a dessert tour for those with a particularly sweet tooth.
The French Canadian province of Quebec is feted for its cuisine, which stretches far beyond the ubiquitous poutine. Fine food can be found around Quebec although Montreal and Quebec City are the major hubs for gastronomic experiences.
Tours Voir Quebec, a CSE member, offers walking tours of Quebec City’s old town calling at seven venues, including a chocolate museum, to experience 15 local specialities such as crepes, organic rotisserie, organic wine and, of course, poutine.
“We mix history with the discovery of local food and drinks,” says Sebastien Ivers, president of Tours Voir. “We insist on what is special to Quebec and also Canada.”
Neighbouring Ontario is also known for its gastronomic delights including Toronto’s vibrant foodie scene with its rich multicultural melting pot of cuisines.
The Culinary Adventure Company runs food tours to districts such as Chinatown, Kensington Market, Little Italy, Greektown and St Lawrence Market, famous for its bacon.
The Niagara area is famed for its vineyards, with production centred around the town of Niagara-on-the- Lake, which is home to wineries such as Inniskillin and Jackson-Triggs.
A different type of experience is on offer in the Muskoka region north of Toronto. This is home to Johnston’s Cranberry Marsh & Muskoka Lakes Winery; visitors can take tours and taste cranberry and blueberry wines.
“Cranberries are native only to North America... and helped settlers survive,” says owner Wendy Hogarth.
Lobster is so prevalent in parts of the Atlantic provinces that it is even served at McDonald’s.
But if clients want a more authentic lobster experience, they can try Top Notch Lobster Tours, based on Prince Edward Island (PEI), which gives an insight into catching lobsters on a real fishing boat as well as providing a lobster picnic.
Owner Mark Jenkins says: “We use a genuine working lobster boat and crew, not a tour boat. The water in Atlantic Canada has some of the world’s delicacies – from giant Bluefin tuna to lobster and much more.”
For another take on the region’s food scene, Holland College, also on PEI, offers culinary “bootcamps” where participants can hone their skills using local ingredients.
Other CSE attractions in the maritimes include Lighthouse Picnics in Newfoundland, which offers al-fresco dining at the historic Ferryland Lighthouse, and Trout Point Lodge of Nova Scotia, a wilderness property that runs a cooking school teaching guests how to cook the perfect lobster.
Whatever your client’s tastes, there should be plenty to tuck into on any trip to Canada – although geoduck clams may be an acquired taste.
John Quilter aka The Food Busker
WHAT’S THE CONCEPT BEHIND FOOD BUSKING?
I started cooking on London’s streets but wanted to do something different that made people think again about food and those who made and served it. Instead of charging a set price, I asked people to pay me what they thought the food was worth and called it food busking. I did it for a year without any cameras, Jamie Oliver then asked me to get involved in his online TV channel Food Tube.
WHAT WERE THE CULINARY HIGHLIGHTS OF YOUR RECENT TRIP ACROSS CANADA?
I was so enthused and excited by Canada’s culinary landscape. Ottawa was surprising because it has a booming field-to-fork movement. Toronto has a burgeoning food, art, music and nightlife scene with great coffee culture. Vancouver is a truly multicultural city and the Chinese food there is some of the best I’ve tried – you must go to Bao Bei. Montreal practically fizzes with French passion and I had the meal of the trip at Maison Publique – the baked Marmite oysters were to die for.
WHICH CITY MADE THE BIGGEST IMPRESSION ON YOU?
Toronto’s food scene is a heavyweight collection of traditional ethnic cuisines and young chefs taking things to the next level. It’s not just what they cook, it’s the way they cook it and the rooms they choose to serve it in. I had stand out Indian and Vietnamese, while Mexican food is on the rise. But Toronto is nothing without its world-class Chinese food.
HOW WILL YOUR CANADIAN EXPERIENCE INFLUENCE YOUR UK FOOD BUSKS?
I will look at ice wine differently as an ingredient to cook with and a wine to enjoy throughout the meal.
Two Canada Specialist agents talk about some of their favourite Canadian food experiences:
Anneka Bones, Travel consultant, Southern Cross Travel, East Sussex
“My most memorable meal was in Newfoundland at Ferryland Lighthouse enjoying a Lighthouse Picnic (a Canadian Signature Experience) while sitting on the clifftop, looking for seals along the coastline. This is such a stunning spot, and is one of my favourite memories of Canada – spectacular scenery, lovely company, the open outdoors and incredible food. The homemade lemonade is served in jam jars, and the picnic is delivered (with a blanket) to wherever you are sitting.”
Ann Anglesea, Managing director, Delmar World, Wrexham
“There is so much choice of good food in Canada that it’s impossible to list it all but here are some of my musttry recommendations: beaver tails in Mont Tremblant (Quebec), afternoon tea at Butchart Gardens (Vancouver Island), wild salmon bake cooked between cedar planks on a BBQ in BC, and a sugar shack breakfast on the road between Ottawa and Montreal. I stopped at the Sucrerie de la Montagne, which was amazing but there are many to choose from. Ice wine from the Niagara peninsula is pure nectar as well.”
