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Lynn on Guelphology Podcast

photo of Lynn at Guelph Farmers' Market
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

downtown guelph streetview
Here’s a bit I wrote years ago. I am wordy – sheesh. But I don’t believe it’s irrelevant, despite its age. Or maybe it’s tone deaf in our climate today?

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…

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

Ok, admittedly, these aren’t our best shots but we need them here to tell a story.  Just this past week we’ve had guests from Tasmania and Qatar.  Justin requested a custom tour because she couldn’t make it any other day and she hadn’t been to Guelph since she was 6 months old – over 45…

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

Picture of panini
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

Safe travels stamp Ontario
Taste Detours is delighted to announce it has been awarded the #SafeTravels Stamp.

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

Land acknowledgement
But let’s talk about Sujek. Also known as Sujuk, Sucuc, Soudjouk, Sudzhuk, Sudžuk, depending on where in the world you are. Traditionally prepared with ground beef and spices such as cumin, salt, paprika, and garlic, the Sujek you’ll find at Retour Bistro has all the makings of tradition rehashed.

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

Buy our IsoCookbook and add sweet seasonal gifts We’ve gathered a few of our friends from this IsoCookbook to help you customize your own festive bag of goodies. Every purchase of the book gets you a $20 gift certificate for one on a future tour with us. Don’t forget that $5 of every book sold…

BEST BITES: A new food column

Let’s talk about squid. Delicious, versatile squid. Local foodie Lynn Broughton brings you her take on an exceptional local dish and the story that comes with it.

#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…

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…

Local restaurants collaborate for free online cookbook

Gyoza hands
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:…

Updated! Our COVID plan going forward

Sitting separately at a cafe
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…

Finalist Ontario Tourism Awards!

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/

Taste Detours now offering food tours in Elora

Food Tour 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.” says Broughton. “Elora’s vitality is evident with every…

Telling Guelph’s stories through the food we share

Lynn Broughton has taken many detours on her way to Guelph and picked up a wealth of cultural and culinary experience in the process. “I love eating with strangers,” said Broughton. “I really like meeting people and finding out their stories, sort of digging for those hidden gems.” Broughton is the founder of Taste Detours,…

Proud 50 over 50 Entrepreneur

Photograph of Lynn Broughton who organises local food tasting tours in Guelph, Elora, Wellington County
Lynn was honoured to receive a Wise 50 over 50 National Award in 2018. The WISE 50 over 50 Award recognizes and celebrates Canadian Entrepreneurs over the age of 50! The newest and fastest growing segment of entrepreneurship is led by people over the age of 50. It’s time to recognize their accomplishments and let all…

Guelph Today: Go behind the scenes of Guelph’s most diverse eateries

Custom tours
Taste Detours is proud to announce the release of its television show, Taste Detours: Guelph – a six-episode series that focuses on food in Guelph. Created with Bell Fibe TV1 in 2018, each episode offers interviews with owners, chefs and food champions, taking the viewer behind the scenes for a taste of some of Guelph’s…

A Taste of Place: Taste Detours in Guelph

Taste Detours highlights Guelph’s history by mapping it from one culinary experience to the next, offering an authentic “taste of place.” Lynn Broughton, founder of Taste Detours (tastedetours.ca, 1-866-736-6343), spent eight years with Downtown Guelph Business Association, marketing shops, restaurants and great events in Guelph’s downtown core. Taste Detours evolved from her passion for the…

Read about Sue Nador’s Guelph Adventure with Taste Detours

We had the great pleasure of touring Via Rail writer, Sue Nador & son around downtown Guelph. A DAY TRIP TO GUELPH March 9, 2018  “Want to visit Guelph?” I ask my 20-something–year-old son. We feel a mid-winter itch to escape the big city. Only an hour train ride from Toronto, Guelph seemed like a first-rate…

Guelph Flavours: Connecting through storytelling

Storytelling has the power to connect and build community. Most cities will, of course, assert stories of their uniqueness — of their roots, their successes and what they’ve amounted to today. In this way, Guelph may not be different, but we really do have much to boast about. We’re a city of firsts since our…

Learning Guelph #StepBiteStep: Taste Detours

by Karen Kessel of Planet Realty‘s blog, Guelphism: The age-old frustration with not knowing where to go for dinner; or getting stuck in a rut of frequenting the same places time and again for fear of branching out and being disappointed; has met its match in Guelph’s Taste Detours. The new way to explore Downtown’s exceptional offerings is To…

Local walking tour tells the story of Guelph’s history and culture through local cuisine

People enjoying the patio in front of the Redbrick Cafe in Guelph, Ontario.
By Brianna Bell of Guelph Today: Walk, Eat, learn and be happy In late 2015, Lynn Broughton made the decision to highlight the culture and cuisine of Downtown Guelph by launching its first ever guided cultural and culinary walking tour known as Taste Detours.  A Guelph resident for twenty years, Broughton has been long passionate about the Downtown core.…

Taste Detours: Mapping Guelph’s Culinary Curiosities – #stepbitestep

A conversation between Lynn Broughton & Chris Tiessen Gourmands. Chowhounds. Edible Adventurists. Gastro-nomads. They’ve been around for quite a few years now. The phenomenon of food porn is a cultural reality. Hosts of mobile users tweet, facebook, and instagram their meals — eager to share their experience of good taste and to promote best-loved plates and places. ‘This…

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