The city of Ottawa covers 2,796 square kilometres and the vast majority is rural, comprised of farms, forests and parkland. Ottawa has several farmers’ markets which enables its citizens to access the produce produced from these. The ByWard Market area is home to one of the oldest and largest farmers' markets in Canada. Inside and around there are many restaurants, bistros, shops and food retailers. In summer there are up to 175 outdoor stalls selling plants, flowers, fruit and vegetables surrounding the market building. It is a lively space.
Every visitor to the ByWard Market district must try a BeaverTails pastry at the original ByWard Market shop where they were developed. Whole-wheat deep-fried pastries shaped into thin beaver tail shapes come in a variety of toppings catering for the Nutella-obsessed to those who like simple cinnamon and sugar. Fantastic.
The Ottawa Farmers' Market by the Aberdeen Pavilion at Lansdowne is home to farmers and makers year-round, selling fresh produce and handcrafted drinks, jams, pies and other delicacies. When I visited in early summer there were many stalls selling tall, sturdy tomato plants that you could take home.
Favourite among these for me were Loon Kombucha, which sells kombucha by the glass or the growler to take home. Backyard Edibles, a community-supported agriculture programme where the produce is grown in Ottawa backyards before being sold in the market, supplies fresh vegetables and salads. John Lu Brun has been making hot sauce in Ottawa for forty years. From St Lucia originally, this informs his product, but others are very Canadian, like Miss Nunavut which was developed to celebrate the new territory. Raon Kitchen sells their terrific fresh homemade kimchi and Korean sauces. And that is just to begin! Until next time, Ottawa.
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Ottawa’s thriving food scene