You may have read in Observations from the other Canadian City, Winnipeg isn’t big. That aside, there seems to be an abundance of food outlets per capita. Fast food and burger outlets abound, supported by a vast array of restaurants catering to a variety of budgets and tastes.
Chefs Joanne Tyson & Lorenzo at work
Home style cooking
Restaurants aside, my trip to Winnipeg was brimming with splendid Jamaican style home cooking and BBQ’s. The flavours, scents and smells took me back to my 2007 Jamaican holiday and provided me with some new food experiences.
BBQ’d meat, corn cobs and potatoes proved a delicious lunch on multiple occasions. As did the ongoing display of curried or jerk chicken from different members of the Wedderburn family. All with different flavours, they somehow still contained the familiarity of growing up watching the same father put the base spices together. Accompanied with rice and peas, salad or plantain and deliciously sweet hard dough bread, the spread continually proved to be hearty Jamaican style meal.
Curried chicken
And now, some of those food firsts I mentioned;
Pigs tail -Yes, you read correctly. Slow cooked with split peas, kidney beans, pepper and spices the bacon smell and flavour remained strong. My first, (and only) fork full, had a flavour and texture similar to ham hock. Struggling with the visual of the tails themselves, I ate the accompanying rice and peas with the flavoursome sauce. I decided it was best to leave the tails for those who would appreciate them.
Jamaican style pig tail & bean stew
Ox tail -Another old style Jamaican dish with a rich sauce that sent a tempting aroma of mustard, onion, ginger, garlic, pimento and pepper through the house. I’m not one to gnaw on bones, so the idea of sucking out marrow just doesn’t appeal. This I’m told is the best part of the Ox tail. Something I’m just going to take Richard’s word on.
Jamaican style ox tail
Cassava- Another first for me was Cassava. The rather bland, starchy, fibrous vegetable was served up with chicken, salad and tasty boiled dumplings.
Cassava
Breakfast -Some not so traditional breakfast options included sweet and flavoursome fried plantain and steamed cabbage. I did became rather predictable with a breakfast of almond milk, fruit and muesli. (A difficult to find and often overpriced item in Australia,) I had to restrain the squeals of delight when I was first confronted with shelf after shelf of delicouse nutty milk options.)
Fried Plantain
Breakfast cabbage
Lemon soup – After the long drive to Kanora, we stumbled into the Greek Plaza Restaurant. Open chicken and calamari souvlaki’s at $10 a pop proved delicious value. The complementary soup, in my case lemon, was a taste sensation. Unlike any soup I had tried before, the thick, creamy texture and pungent lemon flavour will be on my radar next time I visit a Greek restaurant.
Greek lemon soup
There was one more highlight I’d like to share. For a sweet tooth like me, I could not make it through the freezer section of Super Store without a pause to appreciate the jaw dropping range of ice-creams. It took all my control to pass by without an extra item weighing down my basket, ( something I didn’t always succeed at.)
Ice-cream onslaught
Needless to say, I ate well why I was away. I tried my best to ensure there was plenty of exercise to counteract all the delicious food.
Have you had any unusual or surprising food experiences while traveling? Leave a comment below and let me know.
Your- want-to-be adventurer, Georgia
