Meal Ticket: The rise of culinary tourism in B.C.
It has oft been SAID that chefs are the new rock stars, and with their rabid fans, sexy magazine spreads and personal television trailers, they have in many ways eclipsed their musical brethren. As culinary artists they stand at the forefront of the new foodie movement, paving the way for a raft of hungry thrill seekers. Suffice it to say that chefs, and the food industry they represent, have captured the cultural imagination, with their reach extending all the way to the tourism industry. Developments in the cultural food landscape have made the notion of 
Cooking with BC’s Best, West Restaurant chefs preparing for
an evening’s main course (Photo by Tourism Vancouver)travelling hundreds or even thousands of miles to eat for a few days—and have that be the only reason for travelling—increasingly attractive. The Food Network, celebrity chefs, the popularization of organic and local produce—all have contributed to making food as desirable a travel experience as whitewater rafting, going on safari or climbing a mountain.
This rise in food culture has coincided with the creation of a burgeoning industry in culinary tourism. How many people have travelled to Japan for authentic sushi, Italy for pasta, or England for proper fish and chips? While the name might make it seem the purview of wine lovers or an elitist exercise, culinary tourism is now a growing industry in British Columbia. Current estimates suggest that visitors to BC spend over 28 percent of their total trip costs on food-related activities, and that number can only increase as the Olympic Games draw the world’s attention to local cuisine.
Vancouver has definitely arrived on the culinary scene. No less an authority than Anthony Bourdain—food television superstar and bad boy of the restaurant world—has named Vancouver one of his favourite cities, filming an episode of No Reservations with local prominent chefs. Nearly every week new and celebrated restaurants open to fill the demand for exciting and even entertaining eating experiences. Organic farms, small batch breweries and specialty cheese makers are dotting the province. Granville Island, long a shopping destination for discerning cooks, is even home to Canada’s only premium sake studio. Awards and accolades for local chefs, food establishments and wineries have been piling up on our plate, and when an eatery such as Vij’s in South Granville is praised by the New York Times as “easily one of the finest Indian restaurants in the world”, you know there’s something exciting brewing here. The timing is perfect for British Columbia to become a premier culinary destination, and now there are several organizations dedicated to helping you make the most of that experience.
A sampling of desserts: Tiramisu,
Chocolate Succé and Passionfruit
Delice by Chef Thierry Busset Cincin,
Top Table Restaurant Group,
Vancouver (Photo by Tracey Kusiewicz/
Foodie Photography)Dawn Donahue, Conference Director for the BC Culinary Tourism Society (www.bcculinarytourism.com), sees a specific link between tourism and eating: “Travel invariably involves food, wine, local produce and producers, and the experience of a new destination is often gained by the taste of a signature dish.” The Society provides certification—currently complimentary—to restaurants and experience providers that exemplify its high hospitality and culinary standards. Users can go to the site and nominate their favourite locations for certification, and conduct searches based on type of culinary experience, region and cost.
The Internet has been a boon for culinary hunters, whether they are looking for a restaurant review or trying to plan an entire wine tour. Operators such as Edible British Columbia (www.edible-britishcolumbia.com) give tourists the opportunity to experience a broad range of culinary activities. Offerings range from full-day courses that teach you how to be a master coffee roaster, to tours of the Cowichan Valley and whiskey-themed dinners. As with an increasing number of organizations, they also have a blog—Amuse Bouche—which features local products, seasonal produce and events around the province.
Many hotels and resorts now offer cooking classes as part of their packages, marketing themselves as complete vacation destinations. For the more adventurous, both in terms of palate and physical exertion, Aerie Resort (www.aerie.ca) offers the Great Fall Mushroom Hunt. Guests are guided to a “secret location” where they are taught how to look for and pick fungi of the edible variety. Later on the resort’s head chef will use the mushrooms to create seasonal dishes. Not eccentric enough for you? Try the edible seaweed tour offered by Seaflora (www.sea-flora.com), lead by “The Seaweed Lady” Diane Bernard.
At Fairburn Farm (www.fairburnfarm.bc.ca) in the Cowichan Valley, you’ll be treated to classes geared towards increasing your abilities as a chef, from beginner offerings for basic knife skills to more advanced classes on how to prepare an entire duck. Named in 2008 by Gourmet magazine as one of the Top 45 Culinary Vacations in the World, Fairburn’s Culinary Boot Camp, a five-day program, features “field trips to meet local producers, wine tastings, canning and preserving, and a slew of recipes and techniques.”
As Donahue says, there is a strong link between eating locally, organic food and ecological stewardship, and these factors come together in culinary tourism. Unlike most other industries, culinary tourism may be one of the few to be helped by the downturn in the economy since “the majority of culinary tourists are local residents”, says Donahue, who are looking for more environmentally sound ways to experience local cuisine. Culinary tourism is on the rise as people look for vacation opportunities just outside their door.
More information on culinary tourism opportunities can be found at the Culinary Tourism BC Conference on March 9, 2009, at the Sutton Place Hotel in Vancouver. The conference features several notable speakers, such as Books to Cooks’ Barbara-Jo McIntosh and Joe Fortes’ Robert Gagne. For more information, see www.bcculinarytourism.com.
