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Okanagan Taste: Back to school for wine drinkers and foodies

Allison Markin is the food and libations columnist for the Penticton Western News
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Allison Markin is the food and libations columnist for the Penticton Western News. Western News file photo

School’s in for the kiddies, but what about the adults?

September often feels like a new start towards the last quarter of the year and learning something new is never, really, a bad thing, is it? There are options for the adults to learn a few skills this season.

While not a traditional cooking class, you can learn the fine art of chopping and seasoning soup at BRODO Kitchen at monthly Soup Sisters sessions. Groups and friends get together to create “hugs in a bowl” for the women and families of the South Okanagan Similkameen Women in Need Society. Up to 200 servings of fresh, healthy soup are prepared under the guidance of bistro staff. You’ll learn some new knife skills and be doing something good. More info is available on BRODO’s blog at http://www.tastebrodo.com/blog/

Related: Serving up soup for a cause

Several wineries should soon be offering cooking classes leading up to the fall wine festival, including Mission Hill and Hester Creek. It is best to get going to your favourite winery’s website for updates for anything from hands-on cooking classes, to how to plate charcuterie, to simply watching a chef prepare dinner in front of you while you try to take notes.

Several campuses of Okanagan College offer a variety of wine and food classes for everyone from the beginner to the hearty enthusiast in viticulture, viniculture, the history of B.C. wine, wild mushroom identification and more. Pick up a continuing studies brochure and have a look at upgrading your skills, not to mention your culinary vocabulary.

And for the super enthusiast seeing some academic inspiration, check out the schedule and roster of international speakers coming to Kelowna in October for the first Wine and Culinary Tourism Futures conference. Info at: http://wineandculinarytourismfutures.ca/ This conference brings together together academic and professional specialists to share ideas and practices on the transformative potentials of wine and food tourism. Surely a good investment if you’re thinking of getting into the fast-growing culinary tourism sector.

Sign up for a class this fall, you never know what you might learn.

Save the date

Sept. 9, Summerland: The second annual Feast of Farms takes place at Dickinson Family Farm, with BRODO Kitchen. A fundraiser for Summerland Secondary School bursaries. https://www.eventbrite.ca/e/2nd-annual-summerland-feast-of-farms-tickets-34683887441?aff=efbevent

Sept. 16, Penticton: Quality Greens hosts the Penticton Proudly Okanagan Tasting Fair with samples from local producers and a Grana Padano cheese wheel splitting. https://qualitygreens.com/

Sept. 16, Keremeos: Canada’s only hot pepper festival, the Similkameen Sizzle, returns. http://www.gotpeppers.info/

Sept. 23, Kelowna: Appleooza, a farm-crafted cider festival, will be hosted by Scenic Road Cider Co with a number of B.C. cideries. https://www.kelownatickets.com/events/event/AppleOoza

Sept. 30, Oliver: The sixth annual Garlic Festival comes to Hester Creek Estate Winery with crafters, food carts, and live entertainment, benefitting the Oliver Elementary School’s farm to table lunch program. http://www.hestercreek.com/

Sept. 30, Okanagan Falls: Wild Goose Vineyards hosts its 4th annual Beale Street Festival, a tribute to Memphis blues with a BBQ lunch and live music. https://www.eventbrite.ca/e/4th-annual-beale-street-festival-tickets-32702722724

Sundays, Keremeos: On select Sundays through to mid-October, head to the historic Grist Mill at Keremeos for its Sunday Dinner series, with themed menus. http://www.oldgristmill.ca/events/

Allison Markin is the food and libations columnist for the Penticton Western News. She can be reached at Allison@AllSheWrote.ca and on Twitter @OkanaganTaste.