About Alberta Food Tours
You’ll eat like an insider with Alberta Food Tours, Inc. Since 2006, we’ve grown from a one woman operation in Calgary to now include experiences in Calgary, Banff, Canmore and Edmonton, Alberta. We have two Canadian Signature Experiences, partner with over 100 Alberta businesses and support many regenerative farms and farmers throughout the province.
This is why we say when you eat, engage, and explore with us, you support farmers who create healthy soil and food, you keep our food businesses thriving and you create rewarding jobs for our team. Soil, food, and people — that’s what we are all about.
Meet the Founder
Karen Anderson
Founder & CEO of Alberta Food Tours, Inc.
Karen Anderson is founder and CEO of Alberta Food Tours, Inc. Since 2006, she’s been a pioneer in developing unforgettable food experiences for locals and visitors to Alberta.
Anderson is also a food journalist who has written for radio, television, print and new media including CBC Radio, PBS-TV, Apple Magazine, City Palate, Avenue and WestJet magazines. She’s an IPPY and Taste Canada award-winning cookbook author for A Spicy Touch – Family Favourites from Noorbanu Nimji’s Kitchen with her late Indian cooking mentor Noorbanu Nimji and a World Gourmand travel writing award winner for Food Artisans of Alberta.
You can follow her personal and travel adventures at Savour It All and watch her build a new South Indian cookbook at Faces Places and Plates.
Meet the AFT team.
When you spend a day with our team, you are not only connecting with local food experts but also Alberta tourism ambassadors with extensive knowledge of fun things to do.
With us since 2016, Callandra brings a wealth of knowledge from 20 years in tourism and event management in Banff and Canmore. Now living in Cochrane she still loves to lead tours in both Canmore and Calgary. And, we’re very lucky her family loves to test the new tours we develop.
Nicole’s an avid traveller, photographer, scuba diver and eater. Ask her where the best Xiao Long Bao soup dumplings are in Calgary or anywhere for that matter! We love the creativity and passion Nic brings to everything she does.
Cindy Lazarenko is an award-winning chef who loves to give the Ukrainian dishes of her heritage a modern spin. She lives in the Highlands neighbourhood of Edmonton and is very active in the community.
Edmonton Food Tours leader, Howard, is a high school teacher, passionate cook, and traveller who loves exploring all things Mediterranean. His favourite countries are Turkey, Italy and Greece.
Simone is a Professional Home Economist who brings great passion for Alberta’s local producers and agriculture to her guiding. She lives near Old Strathcona and guests will truly enjoy the depth of her local knowledge when they tour with her.
Elyse hails from Northern England where she trained as a butcher. She loves to teach sausage-making, meat cutting and fine pastry workshops in and around Edmonton. Currently, she’s on Team Canada for the World Butcher Championships!
We are very proud that Karen won the Tourism Calgary White Hatter award for exceptional service – tour leader – in 2017. She is one of the best story tellers we know and is a former cheesemonger extraordinaire.
Barb is a great traveller, food lover and cook. She’s been to India and Thailand on culinary expeditions with our founder Karen Anderson and when she’s in Alberta she is thrilled to divide her time between Canmore and Calgary.
Lisa is a journalist for media outlets across Canada. She is a heck of a lot of fun too. When not leading our Calgary Food Tours you can find her travelling the globe (usually on her bicycle) or camping in Alberta.
Nora hit Europe with a backpack after college and hasn’t stopped travelling since. China, South Africa, Ireland and Spain with her family of six, India on her own for a culinary adventure with our founder, Karen Anderson.
An ardent food lover originally from Scotland, Tracy now lives in Canmore to feed her passion for the outdoors as well as for great food. Join Tracy for our Eat the Castle tour where her Scottish accent lends charm to the castle in the Rockies.