7 Ultimate Foodie Experiences in Alberta

Here are 7 Ultimate Foodie Experiences in Alberta for you to enjoy. We are thrilled to share the goods on this insider’s list.  Pro tip: Make your reservations for these bucket list items weeks if not months in advance.

1. Calgary’s Rouge Restaurant makes this list for their Wild to Table Tasting Menu. Chef Paul Rogalski has spent two seasons working on Les Stroud’s Wild Harvest TV show and he’s recently released a cookbook with the recipes from the hit show as well. Chef de Cuisine Dean Fast delivers up foraged delicacies inspired by the show and we think it’s some of the most creative and delicious food around.
2. At Banff’s Eden Restaurant in the Rimrock Hotel you will find the 10-course Grand Degustation chef’s tasting. The Eden was the first restaurant in Alberta to attain and maintain a five-diamond rating from the AAA/CAA Diamond-Rating program.  This 10-course Alberta foodie experience is French-inspired but will have local flare with Alberta beef or bison also on the menu.
3. Throw a Kitchen Party with one Edmonton’s most talented chefs, Brad Smoliak. Make it multi-course or family style. Include wine pairings. Add a cooking class from Brad. He’s one of the most fun, funny and personable chefs we’ve ever met. He’s cooked for Queen Elizabeth II and he’ll be just as thrilled to cook for you.
4. Each spring and summer, you can join From the Wild’s Kevin Kossowan on a Foraging Walk and Field Cookery Class in Edmonton’s River Valley. You’ll learn about Alberta’s wild edible plants and fungi. And, the piece de resistance is taking the ingredients and cooking it all in the great outdoors with this master of the wild. If we were going to be stuck in the wilderness, Kevin is who we want to be stuck with!
5. Step into a private dining dome in University of Alberta’s Edmonton’s Northern Light Dining Experience at the University of Alberta Botanical Gardens. Before or after your meal, you can enjoy the illuminate pathways of Luminaria and sip some apple cider. This experience makes our list because it includes a three-course gourmet fondue and dome for you and up to 5 guests.
6. Join Bradley and Christi Bustard at the Thanksgiving Ranch near Pincher Creek for an unforgettable Alberta foodie weekend. Enjoy luxury accommodations in an unparalleled surrounding and have the best elevated home cooking prepared by chef Bradley himself. The food at the ranch is inspired by Alberta’s produce, often incorporating Alberta’s seven signature foods: beef, bison, canola, honey, Red Fife wheat, root vegetables and Saskatoon berries.
7. We don’t think any Ultimate Alberta Foodies Experience list would be complete without our Eat the Castle Canadian Signature Experience at the Fairmont Banff Springs Hotel. Join a small group of food lovers as you tour this iconic hotel, dine on sumptuous food and beverage tastings, engage with the culinary team, and enjoy stories of the history, art and architecture brought to life by our experienced guides.

Images Top to Bottom and Left to Right :  Les Stroud and Paul Rogalski of Rouge on a foraging expeditions, Guests at Thanksgiving Ranch, Northern Lights Dining at U of A Botanic Gardens, Kevin Kossowan of From the Wild,  Food at Eden, Thanksgiving Ranch, a guest enjoying food on the Eat The Castle food tour at the Fairmont Banff Springs and chef Brad Smoliak at Kitchen by Brad.