From lineup-worthy pastries to local craft beer, what to eat and drink on a day trip to delicious Guelph
Guelph, about an hour’s drive (or roughly 70-minute train trip) west of Toronto, may be considered the city that beer built (specifically: Sleeman, founded and still headquartered here). But there’s more brewing in the city than just frothy pints, as I discovered on a recent culinary-themed weekend visit.
Lynn on Guelphology Podcast
Taste Detours will help answer the age-old question, “We want to try something new, where should we go?” Lynn talks about her history working for the city, life downtown, and how that led her to creating Taste Detours in 2015. She shares her unique approach to her food and drink tours that will take you to…
I am becoming the street
Costco Canada feature
ChatGPT sent them, Guelph welcomed them: TikTok’s Beaver family tours Guelph
Guelph went viral, thanks to a TikTok video and a little help from ChatGPT. CTV’s Hannah Schmidt explains. For the video story, please see here: https://www.ctvnews.ca/kitchener/video/2025/06/28/chatgpt-sent-them-guelph-welcomed-them-tiktoks-beaver-family-tours-guelph It’s not every day a small Ontario city becomes a viral travel destination — but thanks to a viral TikTok video and a little help from ChatGPT, that’s exactly…
Food Writing by Lynn
You can’t just eat good food. You’ve got to talk about it too.~Kurt Vonnegut TASTE DETOURS: Championing and elevating food people and places through exploration and connection. Lynn Broughton is a devotee of all things locally flavoured, loves a good story, has a hunger for urbanism, and an appetite that just won’t quit. Lynn lives in…
Our Alumni page with Guelph Business
Are you looking to try amazing local food, learn more about the history of your home, and connect with others and your community? Then you are looking for Taste Detours! Taste Detours is a moveable feast experience that allows for you to explore your local food scene, while slowing down and taking in the history…
We’re in the acorn online! A Guelph Chamber of Commerce publication
A little taste of this, a little bite of that, and a big slice of Guelph history
I had a most fascinating tour yesterday with six men from Walkerton, Kitchener and Guelph. Four of them were born and raised in Guelph, each attending Sacred Heart School and then St. Stanislaus, St. Agnes and eventually Bishop Macdonell Catholic High School — the renamed Loretto Academy and Notre Dame, now gone from Catholic Hill.…
We tell stories, we learn a little something ourselves
If we can give what visitors hunger for: step bite step
Collaboration Nation. Not just one of our hashtags
Food tours essentially unwrap (or uncork!) a region by offering access to its local ingredients. Food – good, fresh, local food – comes naturally to us. We have deep agricultural roots in this region. Roots from soil that holds both our old stories and a strong instinct to grow. This forms perhaps the largest part of our history. These are the roots that we continue to nurture and retell.
Let’s Eat: Bread. Ingredients. Heat. The panini hits all the right notes
This week’s Let’s Eat looks at the origins of the toasted sandwich adored by more than Italians Sandwiches were popularized in England in 1762 by John Montagu, none other than the Earl of Sandwich. As legend has it, Montagu had a considerable passion for gambling, which had him spending countless hours playing cards. During one…
Safe Travels Stamp
Let’s Eat: Atmosphere café + etc. adjusts and pivots during a difficult time
‘It’s been a curious balance of distress and sheer adrenaline, peppered with deep appreciation for the clientele the restaurant has fostered over the years It was March 17 of last year when Nicole Hogg sat down to write layoff notices to her staff. She was in tears. Her staff were like family, and in one…
BEST BITES: In praise of the precious pierogi
Pierogi came to North America with waves of Polish and Ukrainian immigrants arriving throughout the late 19th and 20th centuries Almost every culture and country has some form of dough stuffed with meats, fish or vegetables. From Chinese dumplings, Japanese gyoza and Cornish pasties, to empanadas, ravioli, samosas, and tamales, it really is a handy…
BEST BITES: Hot, sour and very very, tasty
This edition of Best Bites takes a look at the delicious hot and sour soup at one of the longest-serving restaurants in Guelph It’s a shiny Lunar New Year and the hardworking metal Ox reigns supreme for 2021. As with previous Best Bites columns thus far, I’ve been hyper-focussed on comfort. Covid continues to demand…
BEST BITES: A local offering of historic Lebanese sujek
BEST BITES: Celebrating the tourtière, a French Canadian holiday classic
The tourtière that we know today was first written about in the 1840 French-Canadian cookbook, La Cuisiniere Canadienne For many, there’s very little that flavours this season more perfectly than a tourtière. It certainly continues to reign supreme as a traditional dish in Québec for Christmas Eve’s night-long celebration, le réveillon, and New Year’s Eve meals. To…
BEST BITES: The simple, warm embrace of comfort food
Naruemon Verspagen of Na Ha Thai’s Kitchen goes back to her childhood with sticky rice and mango. “In the uncertain ebb and flow of time and emotions much of one’s life history is etched in the senses.” ― Banana Yoshimoto, Kitchen I’ve been reflecting on the comforting nature of food during these curious COVID months…
Little Bites for the Season
BEST BITES: A new food column
#IsoCookbook is well done
Little Bites: Tastes from Isolation cookbook is alive Taste Detours began working on this book in mid-March 2020 when COVID stunned us all into a radical change of lifestyle — of living — and in our case, a 100% shut down of tours. By mid-April, we had signed on with Jenna Kessler to illustrate the cookbook, and the…
Little Bites: Tastes from Isolation
Through this #IsoCookbook, we’ve attempted to continue a conversation similar to one we’d be having together across a table on our tours. We gain a bit of insight into who these people are, and why they chose a particular recipe to represent themselves. This is our chance to hear their stories. To download these recipes…
Recipe: The Conscious Kitchen
Our mission is to create a community-based hub that connects people who care about where their food’s coming from, who’s growing and making it, and how it’s impacting the planet. We want to change the food system for the better, and that starts with making sustainable food more accessible and easy for consumers to access. GUELPH
Recipe: Guelph Caribbean Cuisine
Recipes: [RE]Fresh Juice Co. + Shannon Doherty
We know first-hand that great food brings people together. As life-long friends, we’ve always bonded over our shared passions for cooking and health, and our drive to share the value of healthy eating with our families. Cold pressed | 100% Organic | Never hpp’d | Always in glassGUELPH At [RE]Fresh we use only the highest…
Recipes: The Friendly Society + Polestar Hearth
Recipes: Jewels Under the Kilt + FRED’s FOOD Co.
A fruit and nut orchard in Fergus, Ontario…we planted 100 trees. The nuts tasted great. We loved living off the land. We gave them to our friends and neighbours, and for 2 years I would farm, cook and create recipes with our home grown nuts. FERGUS FRED’S focuses on quality comfort foods with an emphasis on…
Being isolated and quarantined makes cooking a social affair
We’re isolated, we’re quarantined – and we’re hungry for really good recipes. Being isolated doesn’t mean we’re alone in our quest for delicious, nutritious meals, and – let’s face it – it seems everyone has jumped on the culinary bandwagon to create mouth-watering works of art that are being shared on all levels of social…
Recipes: Chef Scotty + Bin 23 Restaurant
Recipe: Eric the Baker
Recipe: Elora Mercantile
Interview with Jan Hamilton of Rogers TV about IsoCookbook
Taste Detours provides award-winning, locally flavoured food tours in Guelph and Elora that tell stories of people and places via food and drink. Chief Epicurean Officer Lynn Broughton talks with Rogers tv’s Jan Hamilton about the impact of the pandemic on her business and how she’s found a unique way to support the many restaurants and food…
Recipes: Retour Bistro + Tithorea
Recipes: The Wooly Pub + Emily Richards
Recipe: Na-Ha-Thai’s Kitchen
The taste of Thai food comes mainly from a wide range of ingredients. The blending of spices & herbs, fresh vegetables, variety of meats, coconut milk, fish sauce, soy sauce, palm sugar, and curry paste which vary from region to region contributes to the harmonious tastes unique to each dish. GUELPH
Local restaurants collaborate for free online cookbook
Little Bites: Tastes from Isolation was created in an effort to help local restaurants share their food and Taste Detours tell their stories. While many are polishing their cooking skills during the lockdown, Taste Detours is releasing recipes from restaurants across Guelph, Elora and Wellington County for free. Taste Detours founder Lynn Broughton’s initiative Little Bites:…
Isolation Cookbook
Recipes: Elora Bread Trading Co. + Diana Downtown
Recipes: Gin Mill Guelph + Exhibition Stadium at Creelman Hall UofG
Recipes: Miijidaa Café & Bistro
Recipes: Atmosphere Cafe + The Olive Experience
Recipes: Crafty Ramen + La FONTANA
Little Bites: Tastes from Isolation
A free virtual cookbook featuring food-people and restaurants from throughout Wellington County, Ontario. We’ll roll out submitted recipe pages two at a time throughout May and into June. These downloadable *pairings* will continue until the book is complete and housed online here for you to access as a whole towards the beginning of June 2020. All art and layout by Jenna Kessler jennakessler.com
Updated! Our COVID plan going forward
Dear food friends, We’re slowly relaunching in-person tours! Look for Agri-tours, Town + Terroir, self-guided bike tours, and virtual experiences that highlight a circular food economy in the near future. More tours will be added as we navigate the changes with our partner businesses. The tour stops and days of the week may change due…
Fall for Taste
Our pre-holiday newsletter Good day food friends! It’s been a busy and beautiful Fall in Wellington County so far. We’re just past our 4th Birthday, and very proud to be on the verge of touring almost 1600 people. Guests ranging from 9 countries, 11 U.S. States, and 9 Canadian provinces. A reminder that all of these repeat visitors…
Finalist Ontario Tourism Awards!
As a category of the Ontario Tourism Awards of Excellence, these awards recognize tourism industry successes by honouring organizations and individuals who have made significant contributions to tourism in the province. We are thrilled and honoured! Read on: https://ontarioculinary.com/meet-the-finalists-of-the-2019-ontario-culinary-tourism-awards/
Feast + Flavour Guelph
We began a photo journey in 2019 and called it Feast + Flavour Guelph in which we hired Storymaker Photography for sessions in two seasons. The shoots occurred outdoors throughout the year to capture a variety of Guelph businesses, culture, food, people, and landscapes. Our project successfully emphasized the diversity of food and tourism experiences to…
Taste Detours launches The Grand Food Tour in Elora
“It feels natural to have our tours in both Guelph in Elora. There are shared agricultural roots within Wellington County, even historic connections. Telling these stories through food and drink — connecting our regional flavours, even slowing down and connecting people with each other — is the very essence of Taste Detours,” she said. “Elora’s vitality…
