TRAVEL

5 of the best culinary experiences on Canada’s Prince Edward Island

From freshly caught lobster to culinary boot camps, there’s a reason Prince Edward Island is known as Canada’s 'Food Island'.

Table of seafood on a beach Prince Edward Island

Prince Edward Island, Canada's smallest province both in terms of population and area, has established a world-leading reputation for cuisine that belies its size.

Photograph by Brady McCloskey, Tourism PEI

ByCarolyn B. Heller

6 min read

With its bountiful seafood resources, local crops ranging from blueberries to potatoes, and a thriving craft beverage industry, Prince Edward Island — commonly known as PEI — has earned its reputation as Canada’s 'Food Island'.

Lobster, mussels and oysters come from its Atlantic waters, and visitors can head out to sea to hook their own supper. Back on land, PEI’s main crop even has its own museum, The Canadian Potato Museum, where you can learn about this island vegetable and sample a variety of potato-based dishes. Festivals celebrate the island’s food culture, too. Take the PEI Fall Flavours Festival, for example, which highlights the best of the destination’s cuisine. Alternatively, have yourself a week you'll never forget by following a mouthwatering food itinerary around Prince Edward Island.

1. Catch lobster with a local fisherman

PEI is known for hearty, family-style lobster meals, where you can dig into local crustaceans paired with chowder, mussels, salads, pies and more. Eateries like New Glasgow Lobster Suppers and Fisherman’s Wharf Lobster Supper have been dishing out these classics for decades.

For even fresher seafood, and a more hands-on experience, book a ‘Lobster Lovers’ excursion, where you head out to sea with the Fiddling Fisherman, headed up by musician and lobster fisher JJ Chaisson. He’ll take you aboard his family’s fishing boat, Chaisson a Dream, which he operates out of Souris Harbour with his business partner and spouse Julie Chaisson. You’ll learn to drop a lobster trap and catch your own dinner, enjoying your fresh catch on the water accompanied by the captain’s tales and music from his fiddle.

Man handles shellfish at Prince Edward Island food festival — A perfect event for shellfish enthusiasts, the month-long PEI Fall Flavours Festival pulls in food-lovers from around the world.
Photograph by Stephen Harris, Tourism PEI

2. Learn how to tong and shuck oysters

Oysters are another PEI seafood specialty, cultivated in 10 different regions around the island. If you’d like to learn how to gather oysters — in a process known as ‘tonging’ — and how to shuck your catch, consider the 2.5-hour Tong & Shuck experience, which fisher Jim Conohan of Along the Edge Experiences offers from his property in eastern PEI. He’ll teach you about the life cycle of PEI oysters, how to collect them using the long tongs that local oyster catchers use, and how to get your bivalves ready to eat. You’ll have plenty of time to sample your oyster harvest as well.

3. Try your hand at baking bannock bread

Mi’kmaq people have lived across what is now Atlantic Canada for generations. Connected by a causeway and bridge from PEI’s northwest coast, Lennox Island is home to roughly 450 members of the Lennox Island First Nation. This Indigenous community offers several different experiences to introduce visitors to their culture. For food-lovers, the ‘Bannock and Clams in the Sand’ experience teaches you how to prepare bannock, a traditional biscuit-like bread that the Mi’kmaq call luskinikn, which you’ll sample with local shellfish, while learning more about Mi’kmaq heritage and present-day life.

At Doucet House, in picturesque Rustico, visitors can sample traditional Acadian cuisine in an immersive setting.
Photograph by John Sylvester, Tourism PEI

4. Harness your cookery skills at a culinary bootcamp

For more in-depth lessons on cooking island foods, sign up for one of the half-day or full-day Culinary Bootcamps at the Culinary Institute of Canada, a professional culinary school in Charlottetown. Don’t worry, you don’t have to be a pro chef to attend. Designed for amateurs and home cooks, these bootcamps provide an entertaining overview of both regional foods and the culinary skills you’ll need to prepare them.

Classes range from a seafood chowder and biscuit workshop to a ‘Craft Beer, BBQs and Brine’ session, where you’ll learn how to cook with local wines, beers and island liqueurs. At the ‘Savour the Seasons’ classes, the menu features island seafood, meat and seasonal produce, which you’ll craft into an elaborate meal. For extra credit, enjoy your creations in the school’s dining room overlooking Charlottetown Harbour.

5. Sample the best of the region's beverages

For a small island, PEI is home to a large selection of breweries, cider makers and distilleries. Five of these producers — located within a 15-minute drive of each other outside of Charlottetown — have joined together to create the self-guided 5/15 Fermentation Trail, where you can visit their facilities, talk with the makers and sample their wares. The trail includes Island Honey Wine Company, which produces mead; spirit maker Deep Roots Distillery; Village Green nano-brewery; Matos Winery & Distillery; and Riverdale Orchard & Cidery, which crafts traditional UK-style ciders.