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Chippewa students taste their way through downtown North Bay

'The best way to explore a culture is through its food'

On Tuesday, October 8, students from Chippewa’s travel and tourism class got a chance to take part in a cultural food tour of downtown North Bay. Their mission was to explore and learn about culture by visiting North Bay restaurants that specialize in bringing international flavours to the city.

Throughout the day, they made a donation to the North Bay Food Bank, visited Arugula Restaurant, Mr. Pancho’s Mexican Restaurant, and Dave’s Green Papaya. They walked all over our city, and thanks to their hosts, learned about the cultural background of many of the foods they were served, and the influence of geography on food.

Students’ first stop was Arugula Restaurant, where students tasted authentic Italian pizza and were told about the importance of using quality ingredients like tomatoes imported from Italy, as well as the story behind their pizza oven and why it was important to fly in a pizza-oven-builder straight from Naples, Italy. Arugula was also the motivation for these students to make donations to the North Bay Food Bank by offering them delicious and authentic Neapolitan pizza in return for their donations.

At their second stop, students feasted their way through samples from Mr. Pancho’s Mexican restaurant. They tasted corn tortillas, authentic tacos, and delicious cochinita pibil. Some students even seized the chance to test their bravery by sampling a few house hot sauces.

The students also really enjoyed their stop at Dave’s Green Papaya, where they were served uniquely Asian foods including spring rolls, Mango salad, and pad Thai with rice noodles. It was here where they had a chance to try using chopsticks while enjoying their cultural experience.

 “The best way to explore a culture is through its food,” believes world studies teacher Mike Brisson, “and we’d like to thank all the establishments that our students visited today for offering them a chance to try new and wonderful flavours, to learn about different cultures, and to become involved in our diverse cultural community.”