Good eating

In Peru, cooking and the culinary arts are a knowledge industry—and a growing one. Seven of the best 15 restaurants in Latin America are in Lima. It is not an accident. The Peruvian capital has encouraged and nurtured the emergence of food and cuisine to help diversify an economy that has been reliant upon fluctuating commodity prices for its mineral resources.

Now, more than 75,000 people travel to Lima each year, just to enjoy the food. They spend on average $1,250 each, according to a tourist-industry association. Some businesses have begun to export their success by franchising restaurants throughout the region.

Central to the appeal is Lima’s burgeoning food cluster is the city’s proximity, diversity and rich abundance of fresh fruit and vegetables, fish, meat, spices and grains. As a result, Lima has become a mecca for folks from around the world interested in innovation in food preparation and cooking.

Any of this sound vaguely familiar?

Prince Edward County embarked down just such a path more than a decade ago. Led by pioneers, entrepreneurs and visionaries, the County became recognized for innovation and creativity in the culinary arts. It began with the arrival of Willi Fida. Fida was already a fan of the local produce and bounty of fresh ingredients in the County. He had been using them in his restaurants in Toronto. When he decided to escape the city he brought his kitchen and his loya following to closer to the raw ingredients. Others followed. They continue to come.

Fida and others saw the County as a place to make a culinary statement—a place where fresh, local food could define a brand new business sector.

Like Peru, the County’s economy over the past 100 years has been propelled largely by commodities—barley, tomatoes, and peas.

Innovation and subsequent consolidation happened elsewhere. This economy was left behind and stalled. Each of these once-booming local sectors eventually wilted and faded away.

Then at the beginning of this century, a new industry emerged. Leveraging the unique combination of soil and climate, winegrowers such as Ed Neuser and James Lahti began to grow distinctive, high-quality grapes for winemaking. They didn’t stop there. They built wineries to produce a distinctive, local County product. They built tasting rooms that became destinations. Others followed. More than 30 wineries now honour this County—putting many millions of dollars of investment into this soil. Today, the County is one of just three designated viticultural areas (DVA) in the province. This is huge.

It was natural that innovative chefs and restaurateurs would gravitate to the fresh food available in the County—just as natural they would complement the growing wine sector.

It was, and in many respects remains, a perfect business cluster. It is built on the raw ingredients that emerge from County soil, innovating to avoid commoditization, and leveraging the development of spin-off businesses, supply chains and trades.

Together, this cluster has created an energy and noise that is attractive to a great number of people—folks who aren’t driven to find the lowest cost—but are instead motivated to seek out a great experience. They find it here in the County. Terroir. The Great Canadian Cheese festival. Taste. Wassail. Each of these events attracts hundreds upon hundreds of visitors who come to discover something unique. Something special. They find it here.

The County’s winegrowers and restaurateurs have delivered this rare and powerful experience. We know this because their success is described repeatedly in food, wine and travel publications around the world.

Yet neither of these vibrant sectors merits much mention or discussion in the County’s newly crafted strategic plan—a prescription to promote community development. So toxic has the word economy become at Shire Hall that it can no longer speak of nurturing business and jobs—but rather community.

This successful business cluster doesn’t depend on support, or even recognition, from Shire Hall. It is driven largely by entrepreneurs with a vision of what can be achieved in the County—the unique opportunities that exist here. But these folks are scarcely mentioned in the document that is purported to define the development of this economy.

The role of economic development in the County has become captive to a small group of narrowminded politicians who would like to shape it into something other than what it is—something other than a creative rural economy.

But in doing so, they have crafted a plan that bears little resemblance to the community it is meant to inspire. It says to those folks who have built businesses and entire new sectors in this community that their efforts represent little value at Shire Hall.

Lima, Peru has figured out how to add value, innovate and capitalize upon its unique natural gifts—why is it so difficult for our local leaders to do so?

 rick@wellingtontimes.ca