Slow Food Summer Cycle Tours
Forget fast food. Forego the drive-thru. In the Vancouver, Coast and Mountains region of British Columbia, Canada, local produce is best sourced – and savored – by two-wheeled transportation.
August 15, 2010, is the date set for the annual Slow Food Cycle Sunday. It’s a leisurely bit of pedaling through Pemberton farmland just north of Whistler. Yes, Road Trips Foodies, you’ll meet local growers and sample produce plucked fresh from the field.
Maps collected at the Pemberton Community Centre will guide cyclists to prime locations along a 26-kilometre (16-mile) stretch (one-way): bite into juicy beef burgers at Pemberton Natural Beef, marvel at the potato creations at Helmer’s Organic farm, nibble ice cream sandwiches at Shaw Creek farms and sip award-winning organic Pemberton potato Schramm vodka at Across the Creek Organic Farm.
Equally compelling are the Slow Food Vancouver Summer Cycle Tours: August 21 in Agassiz and August 22 in Chilliwack, both east of Vancouver in the province’s Fraser Valley. The first one (a Saturday) starts at the Kilby Museum tent with breakfast prepared by First Nations chef, Vera Point (Back Porch coffee will provide the perk). The day’s cycling includes stops at Canadian Hazelnut orchard, the Flour Peddler and Blackberry Lane (the latter offers pie to die for).
The next day (a Sunday), cycle along the dike and visit farms that raise squabs, sample a bounty of vegetation and indulge in Black Angus canapés prepared by Merle’s Eatery.
Photo credit: SXC.hu
