A Culinary Journey Worth Celebrating by Fiona Murray, St. Thomas-Elgin Local Immigration Partnership Try delicious foods from around the world this February. The community is invited to participate in ‘Global Flavours,’ a joint initiative with the local tourism boards and the St. Thomas- Elgin Immigration Partnership. Visit participating cultural and/ or immigrant-owned restaurants and check in using an app or a paper passport. You’ll be eligible for the prize draw if you visit at least two restaurants (or the same one twice). It’s a win-win- win when you can enjoy great food, support local restaurants, and win prizes! Global Flavours is celebrating its 5th year. It began as an initiative during the COVID-19 pandemic when restaurants were hit particularly hard by the pandemic restrictions. February is a notably slow month for restaurants as it is, and with Covid-19, many were struggling even more. Simultaneously, we saw an increase in diversity in our region and wanted to celebrate the richness and vibrancy that a diversity of people (and foods) brings to our area. Thus, Global Flavours was born. In the first year, 14 restaurants participated in both St. Thomas and Elgin County. Amid COVID-19 restrictions, the community could grab takeout food and get their passport stamped, supporting local restaurants and trying new, delicious meals from countries around the world. As the years went on, Global Flavours grew. We added the option of participating using an app, called Goosechase, offered through Railway City Tourism. Participants can sign up either as a team or individually, and gain points for checking in at each restaurant’s location, as well as completing additional
challenges, like answering trivia about the restaurants, trying certain types of food, and more. We also started launching Global Flavours with an event at the Horton Market in St. Thomas. We started by offering a food-themed craft event and then moved to organizing a food demonstration. Last year, we had a community member teach us how to make Filipino spring rolls, also called lumpiang shanghai, and of course, at the end, everyone got to sample the
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Page 22 Hometown St. Thomas • Jan-Feb 2025
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