Issue link: http://read.canadatravelguides.ca/i/809166
©2017 Starwood Hotels & Resorts Worldwide, Inc. All Rights Reserved. Aloft and its logos are the trademarks of Starwood Hotels & Resorts Worldwide, Inc., or its affiliates. BEIGE Not on your itinerary. Designed for those who love open spaces, open thinking and open expression, this is where travel creates possibilities. Where style is necessary. Connectivity keep up with you. Social scenes are vibrant. And the only direction is forward. This is Aloft Hotels. Book now at alofthotels.com 100+ hotels open now including Calgary, Montreal, and Toronto all drenched in maple syrup (www.quebec original.com/en ). A dish that has gained North American recognition is poutine—french fries topped with cheese curds, then slathered in gravy. On the Route to Gourmet Delights in central Québec ( www.tourismecentreduquebec.com ), Fromagerie Lemaire offers poutine in its country-style restaurant and still warm curd cheese to eat while watching the cheese- makers at work through a panoramic window. From Petite-Rivière-Saint-François to La Malbaie, epicureans treat themselves to a gastronomic adventure on the Charlevoix Flavour Trail which features some 23 specialty producers and 15 restaurants ( www.tourisme-charlevoix.com/en/what- to-do/routes-and-circuits/flavour-trail). The Eastern Townships, renowned for its gourmet cuisine, has over 100 "Creators of Flavours," as well as a number of Creative Chef Restaurants and Village Cafés—brands created by Tourism Eastern Townships to recognize special products, agritourism, cafés and restaurants in the region ( www. easterntownships.org/restaurant ). Montréal counts more than 400 chefs including many top names. But it is also famous for bagels (St-Viateur and Fairmount) and smoked meat (Schwartz' and Main Deli). The city is host to around 40 annual Food Festivals and events, from the most famous Montréal Highlights Festival to La Poutine Week ( montreal. lapoutineweek.com). In the Laurentians, the Chemin du Terroir is a signposted trail that takes travellers through more than 226 km of country backroads and byways, with delicious food and drink discoveries at every turn ( www. laurentides.com/en/chemin-du-terroir ). THE MARITIMES THE GLORY OF SEAFOOD The culinary scene has exploded in Nova Scotia. The Chowder Trail merged into The Seafood Trail, bringing together a collection of restaurant, retail and fishery experiences that highlight the province's incredible seafood products ( www.novascotiaculinary trails.com/seafood-trail/overview). The Highwayman in Halifax, named one of Canada's Best New Restaurants in 2016 by enRoute magazine, is a restobar that celebrates the provinces seaside ties ( www.highwaymanhfx.com). In New Brunswick, travellers can build their own trail to farmers' markets, restaurants and sites via the website (www. tourismnewbrunswick.ca ). There are tasty snacks hard to find anywhere else, like dulse—a salty sea treat—and hearty Acadian dishes. Visitors to Acadian Sturgeon and Caviar will meet owner Dr. Cornel Ceapa (a PhD in sturgeon biology) who raises sturgeon to sell around the world. The PEI Flavours Culinary Trail guides people to the Island's distinct regions, each with its own culinary traditions, as well as to restaurants, farmers, fishers and local markets ( www.peiflavours.ca ). In Fortune Bay, long-time Islander and Food Network Chef Michael Smith has transformed the restaurant at The Inn at Bay Fortune into FireWorks, where a 25-foot brick-lined, wood-burning fireplace in the centre of the restaurant is the anchor for the "Fire Kitchen" —every dish is cooked over fire ( www. innatbayfortune.com ). The International Shellfish Festival includes shucking competi- tions using local Malpeque, one of the world's finest oysters; about ten million are harvested every year ( www.peishellfish.com ). Newfoundland is known for its seafood and traditional dishes such as salt fish and brewis (made with hard tack or dry bread) and Jiggs dinner (boiled salted beef and vegetables). At remote and gorgeous Fogo Island Inn, everything coming out of the Inn's kitchen is house made: caribou sausages, pickled quail eggs, grainy mustards and berry-jewelled breakfast scones ( www.fogoislandinn.ca ). THE NORTH WILD HARVESTS UNDER THE MIDNIGHT SUN In the Yukon, Michele Genest and Beverley Gray are authors of the books The Boreal Gourmet and The Boreal Herbal, respectively. They explain what you can harvest in the Land of the Midnight Sun. At Gray's Aroma Borealis Herb Shop in Whitehorse, visitors can arrange to join her on a foraging outing ( www.aromaborealis.com). Michele Genest offers workshops and events, along with her latest cook book, The Boreal Feast (www. borealgourmet.com). In the Northwest Territories "Shopping in the Boreal Forest" is an interpretive walk with biologist Rosanna Strong ( www.experienceyellow knife.com/packaged-tours/#tour-73). Whatever their fancy, wherever travellers go in Canada, they are sure to find their taste nirvana. 51