…Calgary boasts the most extensive urban pathway and bikeway network in North America…
Calgary boasts the most extensive urban pathway and bikeway network in North America, with an impressive 1000plus kilometres of regional pathways and bike trails. It's the c combination of cycling and sampling that sets a Food Bike T Tour apart from other urban food tours. Working off that brunch, we cruised through city streets and neighbourhoods, paced rowers on the tumbling Bow River, skirted the Stampede showgrounds and followed leafy wooded trails up hill and down dale, using a combination of pedals and the e-bike energy assist.
Next stop Canela, Western Canada's first all-vegan bakery and café, where we customized warm cinnamon rolls with a choice of gooey toppings and watched trays of goodies being readied for delivery to wholesale clients throughout the city.
On to Pleasant Cheese, a light-filled emporium of good taste with a welcoming window counter and a dazzling range of imported and Canadian cheeses. Cheesemonger Michelle Chow is a walking encyclopedia of dairying knowledge and a whizz at assembling instagram-worthy charcuterie boards. Even though we'd eaten our fill of cheese, meat, olives, nuts and dried fruit, she sent us on our way with fat baguette sandwiches wrapped in parchment paper.
Our tour wound up with lunch at Donna Mac, a bright, modern neighbourhood restaurant offering elevated comfort food with a Canadian focus. I didn't think I had room for anything more but one taste of the feather-light perogies Chef Kyla Woods showed us how to make, and I cleaned my plate. Plus there were chocolate chip cookies to finish.
You certainly won't go hungry on a Food Bike Tour. The offerings at each stop were more than generous and the hosts seemed genuinely pleased to welcome and feed our ragtag group of cyclists. Whizzing around on an e-bike is a novel way to explore Calgary's different neighbourhoods in just a few short hours, while getting to taste some of the best food in the city.