In late October, Kelowna, British Columbia, earned a global designation that stands out in Canada: it’s the country’s first UNESCO “Creative City of Gastronomy.” It joins a list of 408 other cities around the world known for their food culture, putting it in the same league as global culinary hot spots like Parma, Italy; San Antonio, Texas; and Macao, China. It’s a big moment for Kelowna, but also for Canada’s culinary scene on the whole.
Photo: Kari Medig
One Town in Canada Just Became a Global UNESCO 'Gastronomy City'
While travelers probably know UNESCO for its list of World Heritage Sites — places around the world considered extremely significant to human and environmental history — the organization grants several other types of designations. One such designation is membership in the UNESCO Creative Cities Network (UCCN), established in 2004. It awards cities accolades in one of seven categories, including film, music, design, media arts, literature, crafts, and gastronomy.
Downtown Kelowna, BC/ Photo: Harry Beugelink/Shutterstock
Applications to become a City of Gastronomy are judged by a UNESCO panel based on eight factors: convenience of food outlets, culinary diversity, Indigenous food participation and culture, whether it has any local cooking techniques or specialties, how local its food offerings are, whether it’s won any other culinary designations, how food ties to the city’s history, and the sustainability of its food culture. According to representatives from Tourism Kelowna, only two cities are allowed to be nominated from a single country, with nominations opening every two years. Deliberations took nearly eight months, with the City of Kelowna, Tourism Kelowna, Okanagan College, and Westbank First Nations working together to submit their bid in February of 2025.
How Kelowna earned the title
Photo: /Andrew Strain
Of the 58 new cities designated on October 25, Kelowna was the only one in Canada and one of only eight designated in the gastronomy category. Kelowna, in British Columbia’s Okanagan Valley, is the center of Canada’s wine industry and a hub for Canadian agriculture. More than half of the city’s land is used for agriculture, with the city reporting that gastronomy generates $1.17 billion CAD (about $829,000,000) annually in tourism spending. The town has more than 800 farms and 40 wineries, as well as distilleries, breweries, and local markets.
In Kelowna, many of those chefs, farmers, vintners, and shop owners are part of the region’s Syilx Okanagan Nation, on whose traditional, unceded lands Kelowna sits. It’s from the Syilx Nation that Kelowna gets its name, translating to “grizzly bear” in the Okanagan language. In recent years, the Syilx Nation has played a key role in many of the town’s most impressive sustainability and culinary efforts, such as leading the reintroduction of sockeye salmon to Okanagan Lake. That was noted in the announcement celebrating the designation, when Canadian Commission for UNESCO Director of Secretariat David Schimpky said “This designation honors Kelowna’s commitment to harnessing the creative field of gastronomy as a powerful driver of sustainable local development.”
What this means for travelers
Dining on the boardwalk at Hotel Eldorado. Photo: @miraecampbell
While the designation announcement from the city says it hopes to now attract “national and international media attention” and lead to “new culinary festivals and development projects,” Kelowna is already well known in Canada as a culinary hot spot.
For a wine-focused weekend
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Travelers keen on dipping their toes into Canada’s award-winning wine scene should start with a lakeside weekend brunch at Maestros at Eldorado Resort, then make a few stops on the Lakeshore Wine Route. It’s where you’ll find established wineries like Tantalus Vineyards, known for riesling, and CedarCreek Estate Winery, producing some of Canada’s best organic wines. You could also hop aboard the Grape Savvy Trolley, a hop-on, hop-off “wine bus” that ensures no one needs to worry about driving home. When you’ve had your fill of wines, stop by Soma Craft Cidery, where tasting fees are waived if you spend more than $20.
The next day, head to The Hatch, equal parts art venue and winery, with unusual offerings like orange and carbonic wines. Or, head in the afternoon to Mission Hill Family Estate, home to a popular summer concert series and frequent cooking classes. But if you don’t have a car, or don’t want to take the trolley, you have options. Kelowna has not one but five official wine trails, including a “Grapes to Grains” downtown trail you can explore on foot.
To focus on local specialties
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Travelers eager to explore Kelowna’s farm and produce scene can swap wine tastings for food tasting, sometimes straight from the field. Start by taking a farm tour and browsing the farm market at family-run Davidson’s Orchard, then choose your own adventure on the Westside Farm Loop. It’s a self-guided driving route that connects orchards, apiaries (honey producers), and produce stands. Be sure to check out The Dirty Bee Flower Farm for pick-your-own flowers, or cross Lake Okanagan to stop by Arlo’s Honey Farm (for lavender honey), or Don-O-Ray Farm Adventure if you’ve got kiddos in tow.
If you’d rather let someone else plan the route, Okanagan Foodie Tours and A Taste of Kelowna run guided food tours throughout the region. Or you can wander through the Kelowna Farmers’ and Crafters’ Market, a packed market held every Saturday with more than 150 vendors selling everything from cheese to fruit to baked goods.
To savor the dining scene
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Begin your morning at Bright Jenny Coffee, loved by locals for its single-origin beans and house blends, then start charting a dining course across the city. Old Vines Restaurant at Quails’ Gate Winery is extremely highly rated, and CedarCreek Estate Winery is where you’ll find Home Block, with menus that change weekly based on whatever is harvested nearby that week (with optional wine pairings). In downtown Kelowna, Bouchons Bistro blends Okanagan Valley ingredients with French flair in the form of an affordable tasting menu, and Oak + Cru has a huge outdoor patio and a wine menu that represents more than 200 local wineries.
To learn about First Nations food culture
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Kelowna’s gastronomy is closely tied to the Syilx Okanagan Nation, whose stewardship of the land goes back thousands of years. You can learn about the links between people, place, and food at the sncəwips Heritage Museum, or swing by Kekuli Café in West Kelowna. It’s run by Sharon Bond-Hogg of the Nooaitch First Nation and serves dishes inspired by Indigenous food traditions, like skor or maple-glazed bannock and Saskatoon BBQ chicken tacos. If you’re road tripping, you may want to head south of Kelowna and cross the border in Osoyoos. That’s where you’ll find Nk’Mip Cellars, the first Indigenous-owned and operated winery in all of North America. 