Growing Good Food Ideas Spotlight: Ontario Culinary Tourism Alliance
Posted: July 22, 2013
Categories: Growing Good Food Ideas / News from Sustain Ontario
Ontario Culinary Tourism Alliance from Sustain Ontario on Vimeo.
Powerline Films has been traveling across Ontario gathering stories of people and places that are transforming the future of food. Created in partnership with Sustain Ontario and more than a dozen partners, these videos shine light on good food ideas from many regions of our province.
At the beginning of each week, we put one of the videos in the spotlight so you can feast your eyes on the good food ideas developing across the province. This week’s video features the Ontario Culinary Tourism Alliance. Watch the rest of the videos on ontariofoodvideos.ca.
“Culinary tourism is about finding that unique taste of place in a region”, says Rebecca LeHeup, Executive Director of the Ontario Culinary Tourism Alliance (OCTA). OCTA is a not-for-profit working to bridge the gap between the food and travel industries–in turn strengthening our viticulture, agriculture and aquaculture industries. Their work lies in developing strong relationships between growers, chefs, processors, restaurateurs, accommodation providers, distributors, government and industry organizations. But above all, they act as the leading voice to share Ontario’s culinary stories with passion and pride.
This video highlights some of the delicious and diverse projects that OCTA has facilitated across Ontario. Among them is the Savour Stratford, Perth County Festival, which annually brings together dozens of farmers, chefs, artisans, wineries and craft brewers, in an effort to showcase the amazing culinary talent that Stratford has to offer. Similarly, The Apple Pie Trail in The Blue Mountains, Collingwood brings together all manner of apple loving experiences–including restaurants, cider houses and even art galleries–for a year-round experience in Canada’s largest apple growing region. Finally, the Taste-Real Program in the Guelph-Wellington area spotlights farmers and the work that they do by connecting them to restaurants and those that dine there.