While perhaps sounding like a comedy skit imagined by Ottawa’s own Dan Aykroyd, Kentucky Fried Chicken founder Col. Harland Sanders actually went live on Canadian radio in 1957 and described Canadian food as "plumb tasteless." While North American cuisine overall was pretty bland in the 1950s, this is decidedly, deliciously no longer the case in Canada today.
Ontario in particular is on a culinary hot streak. After identifying culinary tourism as a brand initiative for the province in 2003, the Ontario Ministry of Tourism and Culture announced its 10-year Ontario Culinary Tourism Strategy & Action Plan in 2006, establishing five regions including Ottawa, Greater Toronto and Niagara for the initial phase of implementation. According to Rebecca LeHeup, executive director of the Ontario Culinary Tourism Alliance (OCTA), Ontario is now on a bonafide epicurean breakout.
"In the last two years, we have expanded to 27 distinct culinary tourism regions and organizations, representing over 10,000 businesses across the province," LeHeup says. "For visitors and meeting planners, the range of tangible culinary experiences just keeps growing."
From the wineries of Windsor on Ontario’s southernmost shores to the old farmsteads in northerly Muskoka, it’s a classic grassroots story, connecting farmers to foodies and culinary roots to eco-health and economic growth. Agricultural regions such as Holland Marsh, Prince Edward County, Norfolk County and the 1,267 farms within Ottawa city limits supply Ontario chefs with the ingredients of culinary innovation and excellence; four Ontario eateries made Air Canada’s prestigious En Route magazine’s 2010 top 10 list of new Canadian restaurants.
Groups have a prime seat at the Ontario table, too. Amazing culinary adventures and zesty new creations are among the key ingredients redefining Ontario’s meetings menu.
Main Courses
Headlining the revolution is Ottawa. From aboriginal comfort food to zen-inspired gourmet vegan, the once staid, predictable dining scene here has gone eclectic and exciting. Offering walking tours, culinary classes and team-building programs, C’est Bon Cooking is a great resource for learning about the overall scene, including Savour Ottawa, a partnership promoting local restaurateurs and producers.
Dating to 1826, Ottawa’s famed Byward Market is a planner’s dream, incorporating restaurants, cafes, food shops, outdoor produce stalls and much more in a four-square-block area. Housed in an original limestone structure, Courtyard Restaurant is one of many group-friendly dining choices in the market, along with Play Food & Wine, neighbors Sweetgrass Aboriginal Bistro and Murray Street on "Gastro Alley," and the multivenue Heart & Crown, one of Ottawa’s many convivial pubs.
This is not your father’s (or Col. Sander’s) Ottawa. Bucking a long-running trend, trailblazing chefs are rooting in and giving Canada’s capital an exciting new culinary identity. In the city’s heart, event-ready Metropolitain Brasserie features the daily "Hill Hour" and Ottawa’s largest raw bar, while next door, the landmark Fairmont Chateau Laurier woos guests with afternoon tea at Zoe’s Lounge and fine dining at Wilfrid’s Restaurant. Located in the National Arts Centre across the Rideau Canal from the dazzling new Ottawa Convention Centre, Le Cafe is the stage for Chef Michael Blackie’s culinary artistry. A small-group must is the acclaimed Zen Kitchen in Chinatown, where Chef Caroline Ishii’s tantalizing gourmet vegan menu is an unprecedented taste adventure.
Sizzling as ever, Toronto’s multiethnic culinary scene is scaled for all tastes and all budgets. There’s iconic fare, like the peameal bacon sandwich and "street meat" served from mobile fry trucks. Thanks to "Toronto a la Cart," introduced in 2009, the city’s once restricted street cart culture has now gone global, with vendors serving up food from around the world. Toronto is no less encompassing on the restaurant front, with more than 7,000 establishments ranging from the hip Ultra Supper Club to the trans-ethnic Kultura to the musical, artful Brassaii.
Kensington Market, St. Lawrence Market and the Distillery District are historic foodie draws, and for gastronomic adventures, resources include ChowBella Concierge, one of Toronto’s premier culinary travel authorities, and Notch Creations, offering custom-designed corporate and VIP culinary and wine experiences. For culinary classes and team building, Great Cooks on Eight, Bonnie Stern School of Cooking and My Place For Dinner are appetizing choices, along with Shop With Chef at the Fairmont Royal York, where participant "apprentices" help shop and prepare a four-course dinner at the hotel’s EPIC restaurant.
Blending In
Producing celebrated European-style varietals, fruit wines and ice wine products, Ontario’s Niagara Peninsula is a global viticultural destination. Whether "walking in the winemaker’s boots" at multifunctional Flat Rock Cellars in scenic Jordan or wining and dining at the elegant, event-capable Riverbend Inn & Vineyard in historic Niagara-on-the-Lake, blending with the grapes is the natural Niagara-area activity for groups.
Rural yet sophisticated, the Twenty Valley region’s numerous wineries include the idyllic Vineland Estates Winery, with The Good Earth Food & Wine Company a fine local choice for team building, events and classes.
Lush with farmland and orchards, the peninsula markets its culinary appeal via the five-region Niagara Culinary Trail. Tours and tastings of the local terroir abound, with unique experiences including lavender- and essential oils-producer Busy Bee Gardens, offering meeting space inside a greenhouse, and function-friendly Kurtz Orchards Farm and Marketplace.
Farther west on the shores of Lake Erie, Norfolk County is Canada’s top growing area for most fruits and vegetables.
"Latitudinous with San Francisco, our warmer climate supports a wide range of crops and longer growing seasons," says Cindy Vanderstar, promotions coordinator, Norfolk County tourism and economic development.
Peanuts, watermelons and popping corn are among the unique harvests in "Ontario’s Garden," where outdoor adventures combined with culinary explorations are a major group draw. At Long Point Eco-Adventures & Burning Kiln Winery, groups first assemble on a high ridge to learn about the area’s history—and then zip line down to the facility’s winery for wine and appetizers. Other Norfolk choices include visits to Kernal Peanuts, Canada’s largest peanut producer; tours and barbecues at YU Ranch, a farm raising Texas Longhorn cattle; and cooking classes at the circa-1872 Belworth House.
New Ingredients
"Our mission is to build relationships across the Ontario food chain, from farmers and distributors to chefs and sommeliers to educators, the government and the media," says the OCTA’s Rebecca LeHeup. "At heart, we are creating new opportunities for storytelling."
The culinary narrative can be transformative. Synonymous with its annual Shakespeare Festival and dynamic theater scene, Stratford enjoys international renown as a leading arts destination. Now this Victorian-era charmer two hours west of Toronto is gaining visibility on the culinary stage, thanks to the efforts of Savour Stratford, winner of Ontario’s top culinary tourism experience at the 2010 Ontario Tourism Summit, and The Stratford Tourism Alliance, whose executive director, Eugene Zakreski, explains the ingredients behind Stratford culinary branding.
"Located in Perth County, one of North America’s richest agricultural regions, our culinary heritage actually dates to the mid-1800s," he says. "Stratford Chefs School has trained chefs for the past 26 years, and our restaurants cater to a sophisticated international theater crowd. It’s a fortunate combination of elements for our culinary story."
Planners scripting their Stratford agendas are blessed, too, with experiences ranging from the AAA Five Diamond Dining Room at Langdon Hall to tours of the famed Soiled Reputation organic farm run by the hosts of The Food Network’s Manic Organic.
Point the culinary compass east of Toronto and further treats await, such as the Peterborough & Kawarthas region, a long established vacation base now emerging as both a conference and a culinary tourism destination. Planners can choose from venues such as Lang Pioneer Village, birthplace of Canada’s original Red Fife Wheat, and the meetings-capable Elmhirst’s Resort, along with culinary experiences provided by the Kawartha Choice FarmFresh promotional organization.
Crowned "the gastronomic capital of Ontario" by Canada’s national Globe and Mail newspaper in 2008, Prince Edward County (or simply "The County"), a charming road- and ferry-connected island community near the eastern end of Lake Ontario, is also a rising viticultural star.
"We are Canada’s fastest-growing wine region with over 34 wineries now operating, all launched within the last decade and representing an investment of over $100 million," says Karin Desveaux, who oversees economic development in gastronomy for the county.
More boutique in nature, PEC’s wine industry is to Niagara as Sonoma is to Napa; it has inspired an artisanal culinary movement, attracting small-scale producers ranging from soy sauce makers to an alpaca ranch.
"From the Waring House Conference Centre and Cookery School to the Fifth Town Artisan Cheese Company, we have many appealing options for groups and tours," Desveaux says.
Hungry for more? Continuing east, historic Kingston is home to Canada’s oldest continually running market, with an abundance of celebrated local farmers and chefs, and some of the richest agricultural land in the province. An emerging leader in artisan cheese production, Kingston is also Canada’s largest syrup producing region outside of Quebec. These signature tastes lead a flavor parade found on local tours, tastings and menus.
The Ontario food movement is also trekking northward. In the idyllic Muskoka region, Savour Muskoka, like its counterparts in Ottawa and Stratford, is promoting culinary assets that range from the world-class stylings of executive chef Rory Golden at the Deerhurst Resort to the circa-1878 Brooklands Farm, a sixth-generation family operation on the historic Butter & Egg Road. Even remote Thunder Bay is in on the action.
"We are striving to add value to our meetings market by integrating culinary attractions into planners’ tool kits to help build unique itineraries," says Paul Pepe, tourism manager for the City of Thunder Bay.
Plumb tasteless no more, the Canadian menu, with Ontario on fire, is plumb amazing, and finger-licking good.
Regular Meetings Focus contributor Jeff Heilman looks forward to dishing out more Canadian fare in 2011.
