Where are the "foodie" towns in Western Canada?

The October issue of Bon Appetit magazine has an article called “America’s foodiest small town” that could inspire you to lead your community to new heights — and help local farmers at the same time. The author, a New Yorker named Andrew Knowlton, chose Durham-Chapel Hill, North Carolina. This "town" actually has a population of 300,000, but to someone from New York City, I guess that’s small. And what makes this the foodiest small town could apply anywhere.

Knowlton’s quest was to find a place where urban and rural were closely linked — in that people in town actually bought a lot of food direct from farmers and where many restaurants actually cooked with local ingredients. I’ve been to a lot of small town restaurants in the Prairies and I don’t think I’ve ever seen a single one that makes a point of serving locally-grown food. If they do, they certainly don’t boast the fact.

The Bon Appetit article featured quite a few farmers, including a young couple, Alice and Stuart White, who grew up in cities but found their calling on the farm. They grow strawberries, carrots, tomatoes and radishes on 30 acres. Stuart is quoted saying this about Durham-Chapel Hill: “In other places, farming is more of a quaint thing. Here, farmers are more respected. We both love how people here feel about food and the farmers who grow it.”

The article also quoted a local restaurant owner who said, “Great food starts with farms and farmers, and this community realizes that.”

If this reminds you of any town on the Prairies, I'd like to know about it. That's the kind of town I'd like to visit.