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One of the most productive agricultural areas in the world, the Prairie provinces also enjoy a rich and diverse culinary heritage. On the Prairies, every community hall and church basement, large and small, rural and urban, has had its share of festive feasting. Large crowds of friends and neighbours still gather, as they have for generations, to celebrate special occasions with long boards topped with wonderful food. Some are potluck affairs, some focus on the traditions of one ethnic group, but most are international celebrations - a re-affirmation of ties that have bound prairie people together since the earliest days. Recipes were adapted to new ingredients over the years, passed back and forth from Scandanavian to Scottish to Polish neighbours. Scots, Scandanavians, Ukranians, Poles, Germans, Americans, French-Canadians and more - poured through Winnipeg, Manitoba, the "Gateway to the West." Some stayed in Manitoba while others ventured further west into Saskatchewan and Alberta. A rich heritage brings a multitude of tastes to the prairie table. While most people still appreciate their meat and potatoes, they also enjoy an enormous variety of international dishes, both traditional and contemporary. The spotlight is on locally grown food products such as honey, cheese, wild rice, sausages, geese, mushrooms and golden caviar. In the summer months, roadside stands and farmers' markets overflow with familiar new kinds of fresh vegetables. Agriculture remains the backbone of the Canadian Prairies - one of the most productive regions in the world. All three provinces have enormous grain farms growing a wide variety of cereal crops as well as the famous hard wheat that produces world famous bread flour. Saskatchewan is known as "Canada's bread basket." Alberta is also beef country, its vast ranches supplying nearly half the beef consumed in Canada. Manitoba has an important freshwater fishing industry. And in all three provinces, wild game abounds. Many visitors travel to the Prairies not only in the fall to share the bounty of the field and stream, but also throughout the year to enjoy a feast of flavours at numerous food festivals. You can sample everything from the cabbage rolls at the Ukranian festival in Dauphin, Saskatchewan to barbecued beef at the Calgary Stampede. And, if you're really lucky, a fresh-baked Saskatoon pie with coffee in the warm and welcoming kitchen of a good prairie cook.
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