The ability to try more than 100 tempting local dishes, all created under the guidance of renowned chef Michael Smith, is the highlight of Fall Flavours, an extravaganza that took place in Charlottetown, Prince Edward Island.
" I feel very fortunate to live here in the countryside and it flavours my cooking every day. Our relatively rural lifestyle is a constant source of inspiration," he recently told readers on the Internet site of the Globe and Mail. "When I first came here 16 years ago, I came to meet the farmers and fisherman and cook. My seven years as a chef at the Inn at Bay Fortune was all about cooking with whatBs around me -- with the season, of time and place."
It is this inspiration that Smith brings to PEI for Fall Flavours, and those seeking an ideal PEI vacation might want to consider late September as an opportunity to see all that Charlottetown F and the rest of the island F has to offer.
Fall Flavours held over 130 "culinary events," through its week-long run, allowing participants to interact in culinary seminars ranging from creating gourmet meals to pickling and preserves or cheese and wine tastings. Visitors also engaged local fisherman and farmers by taking one of the unique island tours that allow the uninitiated to pick potatoes, dig clams or catch lobsters. Other offerings include the wine and hand-crafted ales festival, a traditional farm feast, a PEI Studio Tour, as well as prix fixe menus at many of the provinceBs finest restaurants. The goal is to allow everyone to interact and taste the dishes and drinks that are uniquely PEI.
All of this falls under the watchful eye of Smith, one of North AmericaBs best-known chefs. Having worked in top restaurants around the world, Smith joined the Inn at Bay Fortune in 1992, making it rated among the Top 10 Canadian restaurants. Six years later he commenced a television show on the Food Network called "The Inn Chef." The series saw Smith demonstrating his love for the local dishes he created out of PEIBs unique ingredients. It is this localized approach that Smith brings to Fall Flavours.
"It is in PEI where I learned to let my cooking be personal," he says. "I learned to let my cooking reflect my personality and my many personal relationships with the amazing folks here who get up early, get their hands dirty and produce the beautiful raw ingredients PEI is famous for."
