Plan Your BC Foodie Field Trip

Sustainable culinary tourism in BC is most definitely a thing, not just a catch phrase with good intentions. Visiting local farms, food growers, producers, and spending our money there is an effective means of supporting the economy and celebrating the bounty of beautiful, healthful, and delicious food grown and produced right here.

Buy BC Chef Ambassador Ned Bell works very closely with fishers, farmers, culinary artisans, and food producers; always championing seasonal, sustainable, and Indigenous foods. He is passionate about great meals that are simple to prepare using local foods that show the easily identifiable Buy BC logo. 

“When we buy local ingredients and products, we celebrate nutritious meals grown in our own backyard, and support local farmers and producers, communities and the environment at the same time,” said Bell. “Food grown and raised in B.C. is picked at peak freshness. That means shorter travel time from farms to tables, which in turn creates fresher and tastier food and a reduced carbon footprint, all while maintaining farmland and green space in communities.” 

Chef Ned Bell is a well-known Canadian culinary talent known for teaching us all about sustainable seafood via Ocean Wise and is a sought-after keynote speaker, consultant, and educator.

The Buy BC program is led by the Ministry of Agriculture and Food with goals to promote local food and beverages that consumers can easily identify by looking for that colourful logo of endorsement.

Planning your own foodie field trip is easy, with Chef Ned Bell’s suggestions of must-stops throughout the province. Read on to know more.

EcoDairy in Abbotsford is a fun farm experience and the Discovery Zone is a hands-on educational interactive display designed in partnership with Science World. You’ll get to meet-and-greet the cows, learn about the anerobic digester system that converts poop to power, watch the robotic milker in action and enjoy spending time on a real dairy farm.

Salt Spring Island Cheese is well loved for their beautiful, world class products. Sample artisan cheeses at their farm shop and fill your basket with other local accompanying goodies like chutneys, jams, smoked salmon, olives and more. Visitors are welcome to wander about the farm, see the animals or watch the cheese being made at the production facility.

Brightside Eggs is a 3rd generation family owned and run poultry farm in Chilliwack. The vending machine is fun, where you can buy ungraded eggs in a recyclable egg carton without touching a thing.  

BC Farmers’ Markets are a fun, friendly way to meet BC’s local farmers, growers, producers, and artisans. Watch for farmers markets in the Greater Vancouver area, Creston Valley, Prince George, Powell River, throughout the Okanagan and other BC destinations.

North Arm Farm in Pemberton offers a fun family farm experience with animals, a farm shop that sells delicious meat pies, pickles, home-made soups, their famous hot sauce, and the freshest produce around.

Planet Bee in Vernon carries high quality honeybee products packaged right on their Okanagan farm made from local beekeepers. We humans are learning just how important honeybees are to the planet, and the educational area onsite is a wealth of information.