By Jamie Drummond

“The true taste of a place is rooted in its terroir. It starts with agriculture and the people who 
grow our food. It moves to the artisans that craft the food into tastes such as wine, cheese
 and beer. It travels to the plate through the craft of cook and chef. We celebrate it at our 
tables, and in our communities through festivals and events. We showcase all of these tastes 
to the world through culinary tourism experiences”

Good Food Revolution would like to doff their collective hat to Rebecca LeHeup and all of those involved in the organisation and presentation of the 2010 Ontario Culinary Tourism Alliance Summit held earlier this week.

NYC's Adam Sachs, OCTA's Rebecca LeHeup, and GFR's Jamie Drummond

The summit was positively packed with so many people integral to Ontario’s Good Food Movement. At the lunch break it was impossible to turn around without finding yourself next to one of these lovely folks… Chefs, Farmers, Restaurateurs, Winemakers, Influencers, Visionaries, Trailblazers… amazing!

Everything about the day’s proceedings was second to none; from the venue (The fascinating MaRS building), through the inspiring, innovative programming, to the delicious food and wine served throughout the summit.

It was one of those symposiums where everyone in attendance went away with something to think about (and act upon!)

Good Food Revolution’s highlights of the day included:

  • Chef Michael Smith‘s keynote speech.
  • Chef Jamie Kennedy‘s Locavore Café featuring food and drink from Durham, Prince Edward County, Guelph & Wellington, Elora and Fergus, Norfolk, Stratford, Huron County, Niagara, Creemore, the Blue Mountain Apple Pie Trail, Toronto, Peterborough Kawartha, and Ottawa.
  • Chef Martin Kouprie and Oceanwise’s Theodora Geach’s impassioned session around sustainable seafood.
  • Hypenotic‘s Barry Martin presenting a breakout session regarding the use of Social Media in Culinary Tourism.
  • The Product Development Panel: PEC’s Dan Taylor and Blue Mountain’s Patti Kendall showing us how to develop culinary treks and trails.
  • NYC food writer Adam Sachs, Chicago culinary journalist Steve Dolinsky, and Vancouver food writer Randall Shirley discussing the relationship between media and culinary tourism.

We later heard that many of the other concurrent sessions were great too!

At the end of the day it appeared that everyone present at the summit made their way to The Drake Hotel for Ivy Knight’s Pickle Smackdown. Below is a short film of Chef Michael Smith announcing the winners and summing up the day rather nicely!

Edinburgh-born/Toronto-based Sommelier, consultant, writer, judge and educator Jamie Drummond is the Director of  Programs/Editor of Good Food Revolution… and will be composing a piece based around the Oceanwise breakout session in the coming weeks.

This video is made possible through the kind support of Fortessa Canada/Schott Zwiesel