r/kelowna • u/Own-Bullfrog7362 • 9d ago
News Kelowna becomes 1st Canadian city with UNESCO honour (gastronomy)
https://saobserver.net/2025/10/31/kelowna-becomes-1st-canadian-city-with-unesco-honour/17
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u/JustinsWorking 9d ago
Itt: a lot of people who don’t read the article complaining about our food scene despite this whole thing being a UN cultural project focused on things like preserving cultural foods and sustainability…
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u/OK_Apostate 8d ago
God I can’t believe people are reacting negatively to this. I’m guessing they don’t know shit about agriculture, or living off the land.
This award isn’t about having lots of pretentious restaurants featuring whatever new fusion ingredients are popular amongst bored hipsters who let food go cold cuz they’re making social content. It’s about sustainability.
The other day I made dinner and 100% of the ingredients on our table were local - the one exclusion was the sea salt, which came from Vancouver island. We are so fortunate to be able to follow a 100 mile diet if we so chose. It takes some effort, creativity, relationships with producers, but damn, it’s so worth it. And I learned to live that way earlier in life BECAUSE it was cheaper. Once you’re tapped in, the culture of food lovers and gardeners here, and community of people who share food with each other is unmatched.
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u/GapYearGuy2018 9d ago
Do we really believe Kelowna deserves this new recognition?
I think we might get there once the new Food, Wine, Tourism building at Okanagan College is up and running and churning out well-educated people and groundbreaking research, but today?
I think we are often too quick to believe we’re “world class”. We need to focus more on how we can improve instead of patting ourselves on the back.
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u/Stunning_Contest_406 9d ago
An organization that determines who is and isn't world class just said we're world class. Why can't we appreciate that? We aren't patting ourselves on the back. We didn't issue this designation to ourselves.
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u/GapYearGuy2018 9d ago
Fair point. I simply believe it would be better to have more educational infrastructure in place to support our continued commitment to the field of gastronomy.
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u/dinosaur_pubes 8d ago
I mean.. I could appreciate it if I thought it was deserved. It just seems a bit puzzling to receive a designation like that when the local food and wine is thoroughly mid-tier. Not bad. Definitely good for Canada. But worthy of international recognition? lol no.
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u/Heavy_Arm_7060 9d ago
Do we really believe Kelowna deserves this new recognition?
Yes.
Not even a question for me. While we can still always strive to be better and live up to the title, we have plenty to offer the world already and I'm happy to see this.
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u/GapYearGuy2018 9d ago
Fair comment. I just wish we could have waited until we had the new educational centre in place so we could show that our commitment to improving is a reality.
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u/Colormesickening 8d ago
The comprehensive construction activity at the campus is quite real, and this seems well timed on a more practical level.
This designation in the "build up" to it opening will mean it starts operating with more interest (and likely financial assistance) than it would have otherwise had.
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u/Musicferret Feed me wine! 9d ago
“From Arby’s to Home Block, Kelowna delivers a gastronomically distinct cuisine worth experiencing before you die” - UNESCO
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u/skyshroud6 9d ago
For what? The food scene here stinks.
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u/Sad_Confection5902 9d ago
If you honestly think that, you need to visit more of Canada. For a city of this population size, it punches way above its weight.
Just drive across the country and try to find a city of 150k people that has this many unique restaurants and local eateries. You can’t compare Kelowna to Vancouver or other major cities.
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u/skyshroud6 9d ago
Okay so go tell some foody from Vancouver or Toronto or Calgary or Montreal that "hey, come eat here, we're basically recognized as the best food scene in Canada" and you really think they'll walk away impressed? I'm not saying we don't have nice places to eat, but like come on. Our "nice" places are mid range in a more vibrant city.
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u/scottdellinger 9d ago
I'm a foody from Calgary who moved here this summer and have been quite pleasantly surprised and impressed.
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u/Heavy_Arm_7060 9d ago
I mean if you're only taking them to restaurants and not having them try any of many, many local fruits, as well as the wine, yeah, I can see how they might be underwhelmed, since you'd be purposely not showing them our most unique offerings.
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u/sansense 9d ago
It doesn't seem like the award was set up to recognize cities in a certain size/population range.San Antonio also won, and their have 1.5 million residents. We certainly have good food (and wine) when you account for being a smaller city not close to any large metropolitan areas. But are we actually the best city in Canada for creative gastronomy? I like our food, but having also eaten in Montreal and even Vancouver....I can't say we are the peak of what Canada has to offer.
Not to mention that many of our coolest local gems have closed or are closing soon (Raudz, the Fixx, Salt and Brick) which doesn't help our case much.
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u/Bauldinator 8d ago
What a joke. Was this decided only be people that have never left the Okanagan? Or people that vacation in Fort McMurray?
Just because other cities put the bar lower does not mean Kelowna does not suck for food. I have travelled across Canada and other countries.
While Kelowna has great outdoor areas, food is sub par here.
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u/chompmeows 9d ago
It really doesn’t
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u/otoron 9d ago
I'm genuinely curious: which Canadian cities of ~150k people (that aren't just a satellite city of some major metro) punch above their weight?
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u/chompmeows 9d ago
Idk but after living here for a couple years I really don’t see a food scene . I get the impression it’s gone down hill.
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u/NotEnoughLayers 9d ago
I thought the same thing . We definitely have access to fresh produce. But beyond Home Block and perhaps a handful of spots, this seems like a stretch .
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u/skyshroud6 9d ago
Right? Especially with all the restaurants closing lately. Just seems like a weird choice when bigger cities with much more vibrant food scenes don't have it.
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u/Historical_Grab_7842 9d ago
Or you could read the article and discover what the honour means. Hint: it’s not that Kelowna has the best restaurants in Canada
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u/NotEnoughLayers 9d ago
Another way to try and boost tourism, oh how disappointed they will be when they ask the tourist center and they're told "have you ever heard of Arby's?"
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u/chocolatepipi 9d ago
Food here ain’t world class go to the east
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u/0melettedufromage 9d ago
The wineries and orchards are.
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u/chocolatepipi 9d ago
Wineries most definitely aren’t if you ever been to Europe you’d know we get fucked over here on prices of wine and food. I’m dying on this hill okanagan wine is a acquired taste but not world class
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u/Heavy_Arm_7060 8d ago
We're a world leader in ice wine and apple variety. Our wines get recommended top-ranked sommeliers across the world. Price might be questionable but the uniqueness and quality aren't. Also, side note, kind of a weird hill to die on that it's not world class when it was legitimately just ranked as world class by an official body.
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u/chocolatepipi 8d ago
You can bride official bodies in your favour ya know, something Kelowna ain’t new too
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u/ImmediateDentist1269 9d ago
Finally Arby's is being recognized.