Following the taste trails in Stratford, Ontario

“Rats. I left the swan food back at the inn.”

Stratford, Ontario, is—to the best of my knowledge—the only place where that thought has ever crossed my mind. And I was irked with myself, because as I enjoyed a Saturday morning bike ride beside the Avon River, the giant white birds were everywhere. There were even fluffy cygnets, for crying out loud.

They, well, swanned over search of food. Alas, I had none. Photo by Laura Byrne Paquet.

“Swan food?” I hear you asking. It’s dried corn, sold at the Stratford Tourism Alliance office and several other spots around town. Some caring locals, worried about the quantities of unhealthy bread that tourists were tossing to birds, set up a program to sell $2 bags of healthy chow instead.

Stratford is a town where even the waterfowl are well fed.

If you’re human, though, you have much, much better things to nosh on than dried corn.

On our visit last weekend, my husband Paul and I learned that Stratford is home to three taste trails. And, unlike similar ventures in other places, these ones didn’t involve long drives from farm to farm. Almost all of the spots on all three trails are located within about six blocks downtown.

Downtown Stratford, with historic buildings like city hall, is a pleasant place to stroll around between tasty stops. Photo by Laura Byrne Paquet.

To take the official self-guided tour, you buy six vouchers for $25. You can trade each voucher for a different “free” goodie at the shops you visit. Most of the treats are worth more than $4, so it’s a good investment if you use all six vouchers.

We started, not surprisingly, with the Bacon and Ale Trail. The “freebie” we picked up at gourmet food purveyor Turnbull & Stewart was—I am not making this up—bacon mayonnaise. Made by Empire Mayonnaise of Brooklyn, it only has seven ingredients: canola oil, egg yolks, vinegar, bacon, salt, guar gum and xanthan gum. The shop staff warned us that we really shouldn’t eat it straight out of the jar with a spoon. I am not convinced.

Turnbull & Stewart also sells a wide array of spices. Photo by Laura Byrne Paquet.

One of our favourite meals in Stratford started with another voucher treat: a charcuterie plate and a craft beer sample at Monforte on Wellington, a funky restaurant operated by local cheesemaker Monforte Dairy. The charcuterie—featuring locally raised pork products and a chunk of Monforte’s water buffalo milk cheese—was delicious.

The charcuterie at Monforte on Wellington is a great deal for a voucher. Photo by Laura Byrne Paquet.

So we also ordered Spanish omelettes. Costing the princely sum of $5 each, the omelettes were thick, delectable wedges of egg and potato, brightened with a small dish of rosemary aioli.

A Spanish omelette with rosemary aioli and fresh basil, all on an appealing plate—pretty impressive for $5 at Monforte. Photo by Laura Byrne Paquet.

A second trail focuses on all things chocolate, and we settled quite quickly on imported shortbread cookies studded with chunks of Belgian chocolate at MacLeod’s Scottish Shop and a brownie at Coffee Culture Café & Eatery.

The third trail is a maple route, and while maple isn’t my favourite flavour (I know, I should have my Canadian citizenship revoked), we did pick up some “free” maple sugar candies for our sweet-toothed daughter at Treasures. We also traded a voucher for a tasty maple bacon, lettuce and tomato panini at Canadian Grub to Go, a fun, casual restaurant where everything on the menu is either grown or refined in the Great White North.

Each trail features a dozen or so shops and restaurants, so this post just scratches the surface. Each set of vouchers is good for three days, so don’t feel as though you have to stuff yourself in a single day. Leave that to the ducks and swans—if you remember the bird food.

Sorry, guys. I’ll remember the food next time. I promise. Photo by Laura Byrne Paquet.

P.S.: If you want to sample even more foodie finds in the region, head down on the weekend of July 19 and 20 for the Savour Stratford Perth County Culinary Festival.

I travelled to Stratford as a guest of the Stratford Tourism Alliance, which neither reviewed nor approved this post.

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If you go

Distance from Ottawa: 583km

More information: Stratford Tourism Alliance