For your bookshelf

Alberta’s Foodie Roadmap

Planning a road trip to the Rockies or the Badlands?  Make sure you take along The Food Lover’s Trail Guide to Alberta.

Packed with details about diners, harvest festivals, farmers’ markets and renowned restaurants, this handy book recognizes that Alberta travellers love to sample local cuisine when they’re out seeing the sights.

Put together by two dedicated Alberta foodies – Edmonton’s City Palate publisher Mary Bailey and award-winning Edmonton Journal food and travel writer Judy Schultz, the guide is divided into trails that speak to the province’s history as well as to easily definable road trips.

“We feel that Alberta is a motherlode of fabulous ingredients,” says Schultz, “and, here in Alberta, we also have this kind of underground of devoted food producers that we really don’t hear much about.”

Schultz and Bailey tracked down dedicated growers, well-stocked wine shops and interesting eateries. Their book will take you on adventures to intriguing places like central Alberta’s Cheese Trail, to Vulcan’s organic Grainworks and Pigeon Lake’s Eco Café, where Chef Tim Cook is committed to working with fresh, local produce.

Of course, not everything’s off the beaten track. City dwellers get the lowdown on specialty foods and culinary stores in their area, and the authors direct you to the best restaurants for “splurges and celebrations” across the province. They’ve even managed to snaffle recipes from some of their favourite sources.

“The idea is to just get in your car and get lost,” says Bailey.

Web Site: foodloversguide.ca