It’s clear from restaurant menus and grocery store shelves in Baltimore that the flavors of food have gone global. Even workaday, non-gourmet, saver type stores here have products from many nations. If you want to keep abreast of the trends and tastes going around the world, it makes sense to attend a wine and food show abroad, right? It gives you a different perspective. Plan for next year. Hop in the car with your passport and in a day’s drive – I did it! – you can be at Ottawa’s Wine and Food Fest. I was glad to be able to attend!
The fest – held at the Ottawa Convention Center – lasts several days. Drinking age for Canada is 19, so this might be a wine and food show that college students can to enjoy. Whatever your age, this seems to be Ottawa’s party of the year! People dress to the nines, for sure. They have a marvelous time, using little ticket coupons to buy tastings at each station. They have all kinds of classes, like how to taste and appreciate fine wines. Toto, you know you’re not in Kansas anymore when you see a Bloody Caesar class! Canadians love a Bloody Mary with Clamato juice, which is a pretty good cocktail – if you’re keeping your food to the savory side.
There are all kinds of add-on events at the Fest and for the first time, they had a Foodies in the Field program. It was a field trip for grown-ups to see three farms in Ottawa. Several years ago, the city of Ottawa annexed a large surrounding area, comparable to if Baltimore annexed all of Baltimore County. The rich farmland is on the outlining edge. The trip was on a hosted bus to Upper Canada Cranberries, Clarmell on the Rideau Goat Cheese Farm (a 100 year old family farm), and O’Brien’s Beef Farm. I was astounded how different and fruity fresh cranberry juice tastes from the bottled ones, even ones from the healthier food stores. Clarmell’s goat cheese, especially their salty/tangy feta, was excellent. They had sealed packs that were just perfect for taking across the border. The cheese is served in Ottawa’s finest restaurants. If you call ahead, you too can tour the farm and visit their little store/bakery. The final stop at O’Brien’s had a delicious 3 course locavore lunch: golden beets borscht with Clarmell goat cheese and chicken stock, leeks, potato, organic chanterelle mushrooms and organic vodka, paired with award winning Huff Estates Wine and served in the O’Brien’s Farm drive shed. This was followed by a luscious, perfectly grilled strip steak – cooked by a Texan! – with a wild grape glace’ and pumpkin rosti. Dessert was a take on Black Forest cake, made with cranberries from Upper Cranberry and a local whiskey, 40 Creek. Huff Estates winemaker Frederic Picard was present to talk about his wine pairing choices.
