Earth Day and AFT’s Sustainability Efforts Everyday

At Alberta Food Tours sustainability goes far beyond using recycled paper in our printer. Our company has been engaging in responsible tourism since our inception in 2006, leading the way in environmental, cultural, and economic sustainability where we work and live. Guests who take our tours can feel good about choosing an activity that:

• Directly supports local economies and small independent businesses
• Contributes to global climate change solutions and has a low carbon footprint
• Celebrates and respects all local cultures in Alberta through the sharing of food, stories and the power of connecting
• Engages in Truth and Reconciliation action with Indigenous communities and businesses

A bit more about what we do…

We Eat Local – We select partners that use as many local ingredients and support as many Alberta farmers as possible. To improve the health of people, we provide food sourcing and healthy recipes weekly through our social media outlets. Our founder has also published books that do the same including Food Artisans of Alberta and Eat Alberta First

We Contribute to the Economic Sustainability and Inclusion of ALL Communities – Since day one, we’ve paid our vendor partners a fair price for the tastings they serve us and products we buy from them. We also ensure vendor partners’ servers receive a gratuity. We pay our tour leaders well above a living wage. A dollar spent with Alberta Food Tours stays in the community you are visiting. Guests and team members from all communities are welcome.

We Support Regenerative Farming – We are soil health activists. Alberta Food Tours’ guests learn about the importance of healthy soil on each of our food tours. The majority of our current charitable giving goes to increasing healthy soil, food, and people with gifts to: Food, Water, Wellness Foundation. 

We Reduce Food Waste – Did you know 2.3 million tonnes of food is wasted in Canada alone each year? We conduct annual food waste audits of each of our tours. We also pack up most leftovers on tours for guests or guides to enjoy later.  

We Take Walks – To reduce our carbon footprint, most of our food tours are fuelled by feet alone. We provide information for our guests to arrive to our tours via public transport or bicycle. For our tours that do require transportation, we encourage shared group transportation instead of individual vehicles. 

We have an Eco-friendly Office – Our team is all over Alberta so we stay connected via virtual commuting to reduce carbon emissions. We make an effort to shift printed materials to electronic documents and when we print, it’s on recycled paper. We have a paperless ticketing system. Guests are encouraged to bring refillable, reusable water bottles as we do not support single-use plastics.

We are Committed to Truth and Reconciliation – We value the cultural sustainability of the Indigenous people in Canada. We partner with Indigenous businesses and the storytelling on all of our tours acknowledges traditional territories and recognizes the Indigenous experience in Canada.