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Calgary Food Tours - Secret Food Tours

Calgary Food Tour

Calgary sits where the Bow and Elbow rivers meet, on the edge of Canada's cattle country. Alberta beef is the obvious answer to what people eat here, and it earns the reputation. The more interesting answer arrived with the railway.&nbsp;&nbsp;Ginger beef was invented in this city in 1975, in a Chinese restaurant kitchen, by a chef looking for something to sell alongside drinks. He battered thin strips of beef, fried them, and coated them in a sweet chilli, ginger, and garlic sauce. The dish spread across the country and into Chinese restaurant menus from Victoria to St John's. Few cities take a recipe, rework it for local tastes, and export it. Calgary did.&nbsp;&nbsp;Chinese railway workers settled here in 1883 and stayed through a fire, two forced moves, and an exclusion act. Afghan, Colombian, Vietnamese, Filipino, and Ethiopian kitchens followed over the century after. Most of them sit within a twenty-minute walk of one another downtown, along sandstone streets raised after the fire of 1886 and beside a river path opened in the last fifteen years. The eating here rewards walking.&nbsp; &nbsp;

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Calgary

Secret Food Tours: Calgary

Calgary Culinary Experiences

Secret Food Tours Calgary

Secret Food Tours

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Six stops through downtown Calgary. Chinatown bánh mì, Calgary's own ginger beef, Alberta brisket, Afghan dumplings and a buñuelo, ending over drinking chocolate.

Six hand-picked stops across downtown Calgary, from the Chinatown counters where Chinese-Canadian cooking took hold to a hand-painted chocolate shop by the river. Vietnamese, Chinese, Afghan, Colombian, and Alberta beef, all on one flat walk.

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Secret Food Tour?

What is a

Your guide will meet you at the main entrance to the Chinese Cultural Centre Museum at 197 1 St SW, Calgary, AB T2P 4M4. If you have any questions. Please <a href="mailto:contact@secrettours.com">email us</a>.

If a tour is fully booked, please email us about <a href="/private-bookings">Group &amp; Private Tours</a> options.

Meeting Spot

Downtown Calgary rewards walking in a way few North American cities do. Six blocks take you from a Chinatown founded by 1880s railway families to a riverside district rebuilt in the last fifteen years, past sandstone banks raised after the fire of 1886. We walk it slowly, with six hand-picked stops along the way.&nbsp;You start in Chinatown. A Vietnamese counter turns out satay chicken bánh mì on bread baked for the job, with pickled carrot, cucumber, and coriander piled in. A Chinatown dining room a few doors along serves the deep-fried chilli-and-ginger beef this city gave the rest of Canada, invented by a Calgary chef in 1975.&nbsp;From there we cross into the old commercial core for Alberta brisket cooked low and slow, then head east for steamed Afghan dumplings under sauces made in house. A Colombian bakery hands over a warm buñuelo, fried cheese bread eaten across Colombia at Christmas and all year round. We finish over drinking chocolate at a shop where the bonbons are painted by hand.&nbsp;Your guide lives in Calgary. They will tell you why the Chinese community moved three times before buying the land around Centre Street outright, which sandstone building held the first bank on the street, and where they eat on a day off. Ask them anything about the city and you will get a better answer than a guidebook gives.&nbsp;You leave knowing how a cattle town ended up with Afghan dumplings and Colombian bakeries three blocks apart, and with a list of your own for the rest of the trip.

What you'll do

Due to the nature of creating a well balanced and thoughtful gastronomy experience, many of our tours are unable to accommodate certain dietary restrictions. Please <a href="mailto:paris@secrettours.com">contact us</a> prior to booking your tour to see if we are able to accommodate your dietary needs.

What You'll Taste

Most visitors see the Tower, the Stampede grounds, and a stretch of Stephen Avenue, then leave thinking of Calgary as beef and rodeo. The blocks north and east tell a different story.&nbsp;Chinese railway workers settled here in 1883, were burned out in 1886, and moved twice more before merchants bought the land around Centre Street outright in 1910, ending the moves for good. Ten minutes east, a warehouse and rail district sat half empty for decades and reopened in the last fifteen years as a riverside neighbourhood with a library the New York Times named among its places to visit. Running between the two is a pedestrian street of sandstone buildings, a national historic site since 2002.&nbsp;Three eras of one city, one flat walk, and the kitchens of five communities along the way.

Why Calgary?

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Downtown Calgary rewards walking in a way few North American cities do. Six blocks take you from a Chinatown founded by 1880s railway families to a riverside district rebuilt in the last fifteen years, past sandstone banks raised after the fire of 1886. We walk it slowly, with six hand-picked stops along the way. You start in Chinatown. A Vietnamese counter turns out satay chicken bánh mì on bread baked for the job, with pickled carrot, cucumber, and coriander piled in. A Chinatown dining room a few doors along serves the deep-fried chilli-and-ginger beef this city gave the rest of Canada, invented by a Calgary chef in 1975. From there we cross into the old commercial core for Alberta brisket cooked low and slow, then head east for steamed Afghan dumplings under sauces made in house. A Colombian bakery hands over a warm buñuelo, fried cheese bread eaten across Colombia at Christmas and all year round. We finish over drinking chocolate at a shop where the bonbons are painted by hand. Your guide lives in Calgary. They will tell you why the Chinese community moved three times before buying the land around Centre Street outright, which sandstone building held the first bank on the street, and where they eat on a day off. Ask them anything about the city and you will get a better answer than a guidebook gives. You leave knowing how a cattle town ended up with Afghan dumplings and Colombian bakeries three blocks apart, and with a list of your own for the rest of the trip.

Six stops through downtown Calgary. Chinatown bánh mì, Calgary's own ginger beef, Alberta brisket, Afghan dumplings and a buñuelo, ending over drinking chocolate.

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Calgary Food Tour

Calgary Food Tours - Secret Food Tours

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