Recap of the Taste of Place Summit with the Culinary Tourism Alliance and George Brown College
On June 27th and 28th, the Culinary Tourism Alliance in partnership with George Brown College brought together taste of place makers from across the globe to come together and share inside secrets, stories and of course, a few delicious bites together along the way.
Building Tastes of Place with Others
Day one of the Taste of Place Summit offered delegates a chance to head out on the road by bus and visit three stops in Waterloo Region to learn from them. On day 2, all conference guests met up in Toronto at George Brown College for the inaugural Taste of Place Summit.
Day 1: The Taste of Place Excursion through Waterloo Region and Opening Reception
On day one, several conference go-ers all piled on a bus from Toronto to Waterloo Region to discover three delicious businesses doing exciting things!
Mountainoak Cheese
The first stop was Mountainoak Cheese where Adam and Hannie VanBeirjeik and their team led delegates on a tour of their cheese factory and aging room and shared some samples of their multi-award-winning Goudas.
Finally, guests were brought into the barn to learn about how they care for their cows and use robotic milking.
Langdon Hall
Next up, we headed to Langdon Hall (a Relais & Châteaux) property for lunch where Chef Jason Bangerter and his team greeted us with a refreshing beverage made with herbs from their on-site garden.
Drink in hand, guests followed the head gardener, Jeremy Gehl, on a garden tour, enjoying a few canapés and tasting and smelling some fresh delights from the garden along the way.
With uncertain weather instore, we headed indoors for an incredible garden lunch. Guests perused several food stations and had the opportunity to interact with the renowned culinary team, watching their meals being prepared and plated right before their eyes. The menu at Langdon Hall features over 80% local ingredients - from the fresh scallops, pea risotto, and lamb to the hazelnut mousse for dessert, it was quite the treat!
Willibald Farm Brewery and Distillery
We wound down the day with a tour of the Willibald Farm and Distillery in Ayr, Ontario. This rural stop packs the punch and a tour brought guests into the world of the brewers and distillers.
We ended our time here with a guided tasting of some of Willibald’s beer, spirits, and seltzers before heading back on the bus!
Day 2: The Taste of Place Summit at George Brown College in Toronto
Day two of our summit welcomed all attendees to join us at George Brown College for an immersive day of learning (and eating)!
A Welcome to Attendees
The morning began with welcomes from the following delegates:
· The Honourable Randy Boissonnault, Member of Parliament, House of Commons of Canada
· Liza Frulla, Chair of the Board of Directors, Destination Canada
· Ion Vilcu, Director for Affiliate Members, UNWTO
· Rebecca Mackenzie, President and CEO, Culinary Tourism Alliance
· Dr. Eileen De Courcy, Vice-President, Academic, George Brown College
· Tony Garcia, Director, Centre for Hospitality and Culinary Arts
A huge thank to all!
Great Taste of Canada Launch
An exciting announcement was then made by Rebecca Mackenzie and Beth Potter, President and CEO of the Tourism Industry Association of Canada.
The announcement was for the Great Taste of Canada Program - the CTA’s new national initiative to tell Canada’s delicious taste of place stories one bite at a time.
Opening Keynote: Lori McCarthy
After the launch, we were graced with an opening keynote from Lori McCarthy- author of Food, Culture, Place and a mega champion for tastes of place in Newfoundland.
Lori talked about how she grew her hands on experience, Cod Sounds, and her passion for showing off Newfoundland’s unique terroir and culinary traditions.
“Now I worry less about making a living and more about leading a life worth living; stories worth sharing and communities worth building.”
Finally, as Lori says, every good story must always be accompanied by a cup of tea so after her talk, guests were invited out to the hallway to enjoy some of the foraged tea that Lori brought with her from home!
Panel: Growing Culinary Tourism in North Start Cities
Next up, a panel discussion moderated by Gloria Loree, Senior VP & Chief Marketing Officer of Destination Canada, discussed how culinary tourism is grown in different North Star Cities from across the country. Gloria was joined by:
· Monica Orr, Team Leader, Travel Trade and Media Relations for Tourisme Montréal
· Scott Beck, President and CEO for Destination Toronto
· Royce Chwin, President and CEO for Destination Vancouver
UNWTO Affiliate Members- Global Best Practices
Late in the morning, Taste of Place attendees were treated to a virtual presentation by Burcu Gezeroğlu and Ezgi Memiş of GoTürkiye to discuss ways that GoTürkiye is demonstrating global best practices.
Case Study: UNESCO City of Gastronomy
Afterwards, Jonathan Marbry, Ph.D. and Executive Director for the UNESCO Tuscon City of Gastronomy took the stage.
Johnathan spoke about how Tuscon was recognized by the UNESCO Creative Cities program as the first City of Gastronomy in North America and the ways in which they engage with their diverse and extensive culinary community in Tucson, Arizona and the surrounding area.
UNWTO Affiliate Members: Global Best Practices from Visit Flanders
Right before lunch, Nicole Groot Zevert, Project Manager for Culinary Flanders at Toerisme Vlaanderen/VisitFlanders took the stage!
Guests were delighted to hear how Visit Flanders (with some help from the CTA) advanced culinary tourism in Flanders, Belgium and put the city on the map for a unique taste of place as a true culinary destination.
Feast On® Lunch
In true Culinary Tourism Alliance style, lunch was scrumptious and catered by four Feast On® partners! Tasty eats included:
Edamame guacamole tartine from Ricky + Olivia
Chicken dum biryani and classic veg biryani from Bindia Indian Bistro
Smoked spring hill fish coho salmon, labneh, early summer veggies and fiddleheads with a spruce tip vin from the folks at Down Home with Sumac and Salt. They also offered up a vegetarian version featuring roasted early summer veggies, labneh and the aforementioned fiddlehead and spruce tip vin!
Chocolate chilli raspberry tart sweetened with honey and orange from Eshas Eats
Drinks from Spy Cider House and Distillery as well as Chef Paul Owl’s TreeTeas Brewing
Lunch incorporated a significant amount of Ontario-sourced ingredients making it extra fresh and delicious!
Indigenous Culinary Tourism: A provincial approach
Next, we were lucky enough to hear a discussion between Chef Paul Owl, founder of Tree Teas Brewing and Charlie Sark, Special Advisor for Indigenous Tourism Ontario about building Indigenous tourism in Ontario. Full disclosure, these two both have resumés much more extensive than we can list in this blog recap!
The two provided powerful insight into what it means to build Indigenous culinary tourism in Canada from a provincial standpoint and helped shape the audience's understanding of the topic. We really enjoyed the energy they brought to the stage!
Trails to Success: Agritourism Best Practices
Trails to Success brought Suzanne Kelly and Tannis Baker of the Alberta Association of Agricultural Societies up on stage alongside Andi Dzilums from Travel Alberta.
This trio talked about building Alberta’s extensive tastes of place on a national scale and the creation of Alberta Open Farm Days where guests are invited to experience farms, learn about rural sustainability and of course, eat some delicious food along the way.
The Power of Collaboration and Community in Creating the Taste of Place
Chef Mandel Hitzer is the Founder of RAW:almond, a culinary event that takes place in Winnipeg each winter along the frozen banks of a river. World-class chefs from around the globe come together to sell out pop-up dinner experiences each year!
In his talk, Mandel gave an (at times quite humourous!) insight into how he pulls his events together to create a memorable and lasting experience for guests and chefs alike.
National Indigenous Culinary Tourism Experiences
Moderated by Chef Jenni Lessard, Interim Executive Director of the Indigenous Culinary of Associated Nations (ICAN), this panel really gave new perspective on what it takes to create and sustain meaningful Indigenous-led experiences in Canada and how settlers can best support them.
Chef Jenni led the conversation with Chef Jenna White, owner of Jenna’s Nut-Free Dessertery Inc., Chef Tammy Maki, CEO and Owner of Raven Rising- Global Indigenous Chocolates and Chef Paul Natrall, Founder and Executive Chef at Mr. Bannock.
With a chance for audience members to ask questions, this panel was great at giving insight from a variety of perspectives and practical tips on how to best work with Indigenous communities. It was a great way to learn and hear ongoing discussions on the topic.
The Chef’s Role in Leading Sustainability in Culinary Tourism
Our last session of the day was with Chef Jason Bangerter, Executive Chef of Relais & Châteaux Langdon Hall in conversation with Katie Bridges, Editor of Foodism Magazine.
Chef Bangerter discussed the ways in which Langdon Hall is leading the charge to create meaningful food experiences for guests in an incredibly sustainable way. Inspired by travel and his own home, Chef Bangerter left the audience with valuable insights and new perspectives for their own sustainability journeys.
Closing Reception
You know what they say- all good things must come to an end! Luckily they didn’t before guests were able to come back together for one final cheers over a few canapés and locally-sourced drinks including a number Wine Country Ontario wines out of Prince Edward County, Ontario and beverages from United Craft.
Thank you to all who made this possible and a very warm thank you to our sponsors:
· Fortinos
· Foodism
· Ecolab
· Sheraton
· Sysco