I have just returned from a week long work conference in Canada and am suffering from what I hope is just jet lag, but may be something far more malevolent. Every time I travel nowadays one thought always always edges itself to the forefront of my mind. It’s not ‘I can’t wait to see the scenery, nor is it ‘I am so excited to meet new people’. No, the one, all-consuming query I had as the plane landed on a snow fringed runway at Calgary Airport was : ‘is Canada any good for Gluten Free grub'.
Groggily, I hoppled off the plane, collected my baggage, and took a bus up to Banff with the rest of my weary colleagues. The conference was held in the picturesque ski resort of Fairmount Springs Hotel which looked from the outside like it was where they filmed The Shining. To understand what I mean, this was the view from my hotel window:
I could speak about the secluded winter wonderland that is Banff for an hour so let’s just leave that to your imagination (or google), and get to the food.
Let’s start with the basics.
Bread, in the Fairmount Springs Hotel in Banff is amazing!
There was a little Café just beside the reception of the hotel called Stock. I spoke with the waitress who advised me that she was coeliac and that they made all their GF bread I house. Let me tell you now, the BLT they served up could have won prizes. I had one that morning, snuck down for another that evening, and next morning fought hard against the draw of crispy Canadian bacon and went for avocado on toast instead.
The next evening I had dinner with my team. As a remote worker these ‘in person’ get togethers are rare and a real treat. Many of my colleagues are also coeliac, GF, and Vegan so we chose a Taco place called Magpie And Stump which had a plethora of options for all tastes.
The conference progressed and I took in vast amounts of local cuisine and minimal amounts of business insight. The snacks they provided (eg. ham and cheese rolls, carrot cakes, biscuits) were top class. There were a few mixups at the start to the annoyance of my GF and DF coworkers. The hotel did provide both GF options and DF options, but those who were both intolerant to gluten and dairy were left in the lurch.
On the last day, at the advice of a lovely follower called Sharon, I went to Boston Pizza. I know the image below leaves a lot to be desired, but the pizza itself was tasty.
Unfortunately I didn't have too much time to explore more food options around the town of Banff but overall I had a great trip, Banff is well worth a visit and they will have you covered with some delicious GF food.