Thank you to @TourismCalgary @calgaryeconomic @ctcc_calgary for making this video that so beautifully conveys everything I love about Calgary.
I choose to live here. I love the maverick spirit and generous nature of the people. I love my access to the splendour of the natural world. I can be urban but I wouldn’t survive without the hiking and skiing – my time in nature – that keeps me balanced and calm. I love the open minds of the people I do business with. I love the youth and vitality of the city and our multicultural mosaic. I love raising a family here.
Most of all…don’t be surprised…I love the food here. Here are the multiple people and factors that I give credit to for making Calgary the best place to eat in Canada. Of course, I’d love to hear if you agree or disagree or have things to add of your own. Sharing ideas always helps us savour our lives…#RightHere in #yyc #Calgary.
Karen Anderson’s list of why Calgary’s Food Scene is the Best in Canada
*The Canadian Rocky Mountain Resorts for forging Rocky Mountain Regional as a cuisine over 20 years ago
*The River Cafe and Sal Howell for envisioning a marriage of Rocky Mountain Cuisine with Prairie food and developing and supporting relationships with over 70 local producers for 20 plus years now
*Slow Food Calgary’s influence over the last 15 years
*City Palate magazine celebrating their 20th Anniversary of great food writing in this city
*Gail Norton, the co-founder of City Palate and owner of The Cookbook Co Cooks gourmet warehouse and Cooking School for 29 years; fairy godmother to many start-up food businesses and restaurants in Calgary; quiet philanthropist for many food and non-food related charities
*Kathy Richardier, co-founder and editor of City Palate and restaurant reporter for 20plus years for The Calgary Herald and Swerve Magazine
*Richard Harvey of Metrovino Wines for suggesting to Gail Norton that they open a gourmet warehouse together and for starting The Calgary Wine Academy and teaching for the International Sommelier Guild so that Calgary has such incredibly knowledgable wine staff in most restaurants
*Janice Beaton for opening the first artisanal cheese shop in Calgary and starting our love affair with fine cheese and its accoutrements and for her serving as Slow Food Calgary board president for its first six years
*SAIT Polytechnic’s amazing culinary school delivery such fine young chefs and seasoned professional culinary instructors to this city
*Rouge Calgary winning #60 on San Pellegrino’s Top 100 Restaurants in the World – the highest placement of a Canadian Restaurant ever
*more independent restaurants/less restaurant chains than most cities
*Avenue Magazine’s Annual Best Restaurant list which challenges our chefs to ALWAYS have their game on
*Tourism Calgary’s White-Hat of Hospitality awards to challenge our restaurant industry to have service to be proud of
*Where Calgary magazine for featuring quirky and spot-on neighbourhood features for our visitors along with all the usual features of visitor magazines
*The power of Restaurant Critic John Gilchrist’s reach – San Pellegrino consultant, Air Canada Enroute Editor, CBC Radio, Canada-wide Restaurant review app creator,etc – he pushes for Calgary
*the enthusiasm of food blogger, cookbook author, broadcaster, Julie Van Rosendaal and her adoring fan base
*Alberta liquor laws which since 1986 have allowed private wine boutiques to import the world’s best wines to our city
*The Chaîne des Rotîsseurs Baillage in Calgary is Canada’s largest chapter of this organization that promotes standards of excellence in fine dining the world over.
*a mayor who supports our very new but burgeoning food truck scene
*five Top Chef Canada competitors from Calgary in three years
*the fact that 26% of our population are visible ethnic minorities and we can enjoy all the food their respective cultures offer us
*three-year round Farmer’s Markets and scads of pop-up community farmer’s markets throughout the growing season
*Close to 200 community gardens spread throughout the city
*several SPIN (Small Plot INtensive) farmers within our city
*Verge Permaculture – leading the way to sustainable farming and food production across Calgary and Alberta
*independent organic grocers – several of them – no giant chain wiping them all out
*coffee geeks (oh how I love them! – check out coffee guru John Manzo’s list of Calgary’s best) and coffee houses that rival Seattle’s
*Beef institutions like Caesar’s Steakhouse that have been serving the world’s best tasting beef – “AAA” Alberta beef – for over 40 years now
*Spolumbo’s – three retired football players that took their love of sausage and revived the neighbourhood of Inglewood and helped make it the food lover’s destination it is now
*the terroir or taste of this place expressed in the local produce including our indigenous species of bison, elk and deer
*last but never least, the amazing Alberta ranchers, farmers, food producers, processors and food artisans for without whom we’d have very little to brag about at all. I love you guys the most!
Note: Any recommendations or opinions made here are my editorial notes and they will never advertorial. And that goes for my whole blog. There will never be the influence of paid advertising here. I promise.
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