Quintelicious just part of a larger plan to make Quinte a foodie destination

By Buckley Smith

BELLEVILLE – The head of Bay of Quinte Tourism says the Quintelicious festival is part of a bigger plan to market this area as a food-lovers’ destination.

Quintelicious has only amplified what was already a great area for food, Dug Stevenson told QNet News.

“The success of (the first-ever) Quintelicious in October really is what’s led to this second iteration of this event” running March 1 to 20, said Stevenson. “And when I look at the menus of the 10 restaurants, there’s over 30 local providers. When you have these 40 organizations coming together to celebrate local food over 30 days, I think that’s something pretty special.”

And Stevenson says he thinks there are more factors at play than just the recent festivals.

“I mean, when you look at the local food offering we have here, it’s one of the best in Ontario. There’s such a rich history of agriculture in this region,” said Stevenson, referencing Brighton’s history of apple-growing, as well as Belleville’s history in the cheese industry. “I think when you look at the history, it’s really strong.”

That combination of history and the quality of food in the area in the present has led to success, Stevenson said.

“I think that speaks to what people can experience when they come here. It’s not just the traditional idea of coming to this region and going to a restaurant. It’s also the experiences you can have by doing a tour like somewhere like Ivanhoe Cheese and watch the cheesemaking.”

While Quinte has had many of these restaurants and great food suppliers for a long time, it only came together so nicely in recent years, Stevenson said.

A lot of that can be attributed to John Alexiou, the owner of Earl and Angelo’s restaurant and the head of the Quinte Restaurant Association.

“We got 12 restaurants together, and we decided that we were going to start promoting the area and the restaurants involved in the association,” Alexiou told QNet News. “So it was kind of our idea at the association to … come up with these food fests in conjunction with the Quinte tourist council.”

He doesn’t understand why this never happened before, he said, adding that it helps the industry if restaurant owners support each other.

So together with the Bay of Quinte Tourism, the Quinte Restaurant Association came about. And with it came the goal of staying local.

“Our mandate is to promote tourism and to use as much local product as possible. I didn’t really know a lot about the local product in the area up until last year,” said Alexiou. “So we started sourcing all these suppliers in the area for fresh produce, fruit, cured meat, meat. And I was just kind of blown away at what kind of world-class products we have in this area.”

As an example, he cited a local farmer who has developed a new type of blueberry:

Stevenson agrees that the sourcing of local products has played a huge part in the success of festivals like Quintelicious.

“Local food and the local-food movement is really going thorough a resurgence. People take pride in knowing that they’re eating food that has … been sourced locally…

“When people know that they are supporting the local producers, who again are out there working long hours on their farms to bring us these great quality products, there’s a certain pride in that, there’s a certain interest in that, and there’s a certain intrigue in that – to taste what’s actually from this region.”

So now that Quinte has added food and beer – there is a craft-beer festival, QuinteCraft, this Saturday as part of Quintelicious – to the wine sector for which Prince Edward County is famous, it seems to be developing into the full package for tourists.

Stevenson says this can only help in the area’s development.

“For me it’s that food goes with everything. It’s not just a great destination to go to restaurants and eat the local food, but it’s also a great destination to take your picnic, go for a walk with your food, grab an ice cream.

“We are a food-driven society. People like to do something and have a drink, sit on a patio and have a drink, go for a walk and have an ice cream. And so we’ve got a lot of opportunities, especially in the outdoor space, for things to go along with food.”