Food-Loving Winnipeggers, Unite!
I wouldn’t call myself a foodie. I don’t eat beef. Or shellfish. I’m finicky about ginger and hate soy sauce. I know cupcakes have been a trend food for way too long, but I love them anyway. And I sometimes feel like a lousy Canadian when I admit I prefer butter-flavoured imitation maple syrup, which my in-laws lovingly refer to as “pole syrup” (sirop de poteau).
So while I wouldn’t call myself a foodie, I would call myself a food-lover. (I know, lame, because as if there are any food-haters.) I like thinking about food, in general. I like looking at recipes, even ones I know I’ll never get around to making. Mostly I enjoy reading others’ thoughts on ingredients, gear, and restaurants…call it cooking vicariously, if you like. Because the availability of all these things varies so much geographically, it’s always a pleasant surprise when you come across a blog that refers to restaurants and stores you can actually visit, and ingredients you can easily find!
Lucky for us, Winnipeg has several good food bloggers/writers, and I’ve rounded up a list of some of my regular reads. Have I missed anyone?
- Dine Out Winnipeg: Restaurant reviews, tips, events, etc. Very extensive archives.
- Breakfast Connoisseurs: Two funny dudes on an eternal quest to find the city’s best breakfast…. their website is the only place you can find hours, payment details, etc., on a lot of small places. Extra props for the hilarious podcast!
- Savour Winnipeg: Monthly roundups of foodie events, gossip, and other local news.
- Winnipeg Eats: A great mix of food politics, recipes, tips on using local produce, etc.
- Zollipop: Zolli writes about local ingredients, local restaurants and her cooking adventures, generally accompanied by lovely photos.
- Cake-ology: Company blog for the Exchange’s Cake-ology Bakery.
- Food Musings: A mix of personal posts, recipes, reviews, and more. I fell for the cute heart pictures at the end of each post!
I’m looking forward to this summer for a bunch of food-related reasons. One, we’re hoping to do some container gardening of a few herbs and veggies this summer (we’re gardening newbs; baby steps!). Two, we picked up a composter at the city’s compost & rain barrel sale a few weekends back. So even though we have no use for compost right now, by this time next year we should have some of the nice, rich stuff to help grow more veggies, and we can stop throwing a big proportion of our kitchen scraps into the garbage. Three, I’m excited for trips to the Farmers’ Market (though I cringe at the long drive down to St. Norbert) and to u-pick some berries. Lastly, and this may be delusional, but I’m hoping that being off on mat leave will afford me time to do more cooking and experimenting in the kitchen.
Do you have food-related summer traditions or activities you’re excited for? Do share!
Great list! One of my favourite restaurants – Bistro 7 1/4 has 2 blogs. One if for the chef and one is for front of house (his wife). It’s a pretty cool perspective if you love food blogs!
XO
Lenore
Sooo…. no news yet I take it?
You will probably have plenty of time for cooking while the little one sleeps but, as in our house, it may be a downfall because A. and I have both gained weight instead of losing it. He has banned me from watching Food Network, especially French Food at Home.
Can’t wait for your email!!!
I’m looking forward to St. Norbert, too! A couple other options include taking public transit or cycling. Also, there are quite a few small markets in the city that you might find some of the same vendors (you could always ask at St. Norbert!) and avoid the trip out if you can.
To find the smaller local markets in the city check out http://www.manitobafarmersmarkets.ca/
I noticed Seven Oaks Wellness Centre is having a small one start in July (http://www.wellnessinstitute.ca/node/1296) and HSC has a small one that ran last year every Wednesday afternoon and apparently is set to run this year as well. Keep in mind those two are very small ones, but if you’re wanting fresh local veggies in season you will find some yummy stuff! (I work at HSC so I can vouch for the smallness of the HSC one, but what they do have is excellent!)
Don’t forget about Pepy at The Art and Science of Food (http://indonesia-eats.blogspot.com). The girl knows her Asian food!
I went to visit Dalnavert House today. What an incredible place that is. I have lived here my whole life and it never occurred to me to go there, but I was strolling around and decided to pop in. It’s beautiful. It made me think of how many of these hidden gems are in downtown Winnipeg and in Osborne Village and Wolesley that you just cannot find in the suburbs. As I walked out I saw the city differently. What it must’ve looked like when Winnipeg was a boom town before the Panama Canal came along and little ol’ Vancouver stole our thunder. Amazing experience. It gave me a real appreciation for the beauty and history of our city. It’s a shame Winnipeg gets such a bad reputation when there is all this beautiful stuff that only locals know about. It’s really not fair.
They’ve done such a great job preserving this national historic site, I encourage everyone to pay a visit. It’s on Carlton St. south of Broadway. It’s only five bucks for the tour, too! You can’t miss it because it’s a STUNNINGLY BEAUTIFUL Victorian house (mansion?). Go when you get a chance!
I wish they would bring back the Taste of Manitoba festival that we used to have every summer. That was awesome! All those yummy foods and it was only something like $1.75 for each food ticket, and most items went for something like 2 or 3 tickets. Small portions, yes, but that just meant you could try lots of different things and walk away stuffed for under 20 bucks! Plus you could drink a can of beer in Memorial Park and without getting hassled by “the man.” BRING BACK TASTE OF MANITOBA!!!!
Hi! What a great blog. I just stumbled upon you!
I thought I’d share my little blog as well. Growing up in rural Manitoba my blog is near and dear to my heart because it’s all about the things I love on the Prairies… foods that I grew up with, gardening, crafts, and some other random stuff!
Prairie Story
http://prairiestory.blogspot.com/
Enjoy!
Thanks, Prairie Story! Your blog looks great, and I’ve added it to my Google Reader and to my Winnipeg blogroll here on the site
Thanks Zolli for mentioning about my blog!