Fall Flavours offers Prince Edward Island a chance to show off

Now the autumn equinox has come and gone, there is no doubt we are into fall, as the leaves turn bronze and red and the temperatures start to drop. 

However, for food lovers the season means a chance to try plenty of dishes associated with this time of year. Of course, there will be the traditional; Halloween with pumpkin pie and the Thanksgiving turkey will be as inevitable as snow and Santa at Christmas. But there will also be opportunities for chefs to show off some superb seasonal dishes. 

A place where this is particularly true is Prince Edward Island, where the Fall Flavours Festival has set out to offer foodies an event as tasty as it is alliterative. 

Lasting through the month of September, the event has marked the period where summer transitions into fall with a cornucopia of local dishes. The emphasis has been mostly - though not entirely - on the seafood of the island, for now is one of the best times to fish and few places around Canada's coasts offer more tasty morsels than those culled from the nearby Atlantic waters. 

As a result, much of the festival has involved giving visitors the chance to hop on a boat and go fishing with the experts, albeit with an onboard BBQ. It has also incorporated the Prince Edward Island International Shellfish Festival, while the mussel and lobster shore boil has been another regular event that has offered the opportunity to try seafood at its best and freshest. Suffice to say, the local crustacean life expectancy has not been high. 

All this might suggest that Prince Edward Island cuisine is a one trick pony. Not a bit of it. The chefs at work in the event have been preparing all sorts of different dishes. There has been Chinese food, the Farm to Table event and the Great Island Grilled Cheese Challenge.

Celebrity chefs have included Michael Smith, who the Journal Pioneer noted was a presence each Friday with his waygu beef sliders, joined by other chefs from the Summerside area dishing up various beefy treats at the Silver Fox Entertainment Complex. The event in question, known as Beef ‘n Blues Friday, was meant to highlight just why chefs and diners alike love the island's beef. 

The same publication also noted the Multiple Organics event at Breadalbane's Green Island Getaways. Showcasing the latest in organic food, it featured a three-course organic meal created by chef Scott Carr. This included free-range pork and chicken, as well as organically sourced bread and vegetables. There was also a chance to meet the farmers who produce the food. 

Bill Kendrick of Experience P.E.I. said: "We decided to create this event as a way to help food lovers connect face to face with the farmers who contributed to the meal on their plate."

Of course, much of the food is not specific to the fall season, even if September is harvest time. But what the event may have done is help emphasise not just the prominence and excellence of the island as a place for seafood, but also how much more diverse its array of ingredients is - something the local restaurants will be only too happy to demonstrate on every plate.