Algoma's Taste of Place

Welcome to the Algoma Country's A Taste of Algoma Blog Series. This Food Blog Series features articles written about the enticing and delicious food grown, produced, sold and served in Algoma.

With its rich agricultural heritage, some of our visitors and even some residents may be surprised to learn that Algoma is home to many farms growing and raising quality food products. This series talks about some of those farms, as well as where they can be found. Whether from a farm gate, a farmers’ market, or at a restaurant or cafe that regularly makes a point of sourcing from farms in their area, this series highlights many aspects of eating locally.

It's important to support local agriculture for many reasons. Here are just a few, from ecowatch.com:

Supports local farms and boosts the local economy: Buying local food keeps local farms healthy and creates local jobs at farms and in local food processing and distribution systems. Food dollars spent at local farms and food producers stay in the local economy, creating more jobs at other local businesses.

More freshness: Local food is fresher, healthier and tastes better, because it spends less time in transit from farm to plate, and therefore, loses fewer nutrients and incurs less spoilage.

Good for the soil: Local food encourages diversification of local agriculture, which reduces the reliance on monoculture – single crops grown over a wide area to the detriment of soils.

Attracts tourists: Local foods promote agritourism and culinary tourism, farmers' markets and opportunities to visit farms and local food producers, and restaurants serving local fare, help draw tourists to a region.

Preserves open space: Buying local food helps local farms survive and thrive, keeping land from being redeveloped into suburban sprawl.

Luckily for us, food or culinary tourism is a growing global trend. A good definition comes from the Ontario Culinary Tourism Alliance:

Culinary tourism is defined as the pursuit of unique and memorable eating and drinking experiences. By combining travel with these edible experiences, culinary tourism offers both locals and tourists alike an authentic taste of the place in our bountiful province. It includes any tourism experience in which a person learns about, appreciates, consumes or – dare we say – indulges in food and drink that reflects the local cuisine, heritage, or culture of a place.

Culinary tourism is not limited to gourmet food. In fact, we like to use the term “food tourism” more often than not just to keep it from feeling elitist. It is about what is unique, authentic and memorable about the food stories our regions have to tell. This includes our farmers, our cheesemongers, fishermen, brewers, winemakers and everyone in between.

In all its forms, culinary tourism is the bread and butter of our province’s offering. It’s what gives our stories soul and causes our bellies to smile.

We are fortunate here in Algoma to have a wide variety of stories to tell about our food and those who provide it to their enthusiastic customers. We have fisheries on the Great Lakes that surround us, amazing growers of vegetables, and fruits and caring producers of quality meat, poultry, and dairy. We have a vibrant culinary industry in the restaurants and chefs who turn that bounty into delectable dishes for our plates.

The series highlights farm-to-plate tales, which we hope will help to bring you to our little piece of heaven and experience not only the natural beauty, activities, and events, but to appreciate the unique “taste of place” here in Algoma Country.

Bon appetit!

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