6 www.eatdrink.ca fooD Writer At lArGe By Bryan Lavery S tratford, Ontario, is not only a cultural haven for world-class theatre, but also for a world-class creative community, which includes actors, artists, playwrights, writers, musicians, and many uniquely talented professionals, all of whom contribute to the vitality of the community. Stratford has a long history of being a hotbed of culinary talent, including farmers, growers, chefs, culinary instructors and restaurateurs. Hospitality and the culinary arts are an important and integral part of Stratford's creative and theatrical community. Stratford is internationally known for the Stratford Shakespeare Festival, which runs from April to November. The festival's primary mandate is to present repertory productions of William Shakespeare's plays, but it also produces a diverse variety of theatre, from classic Greek tragedies to more contemporary works. The festival has contributed to the formation of a distinctively idiosyncratic dining culture and restaurant community. Since the festival's inception in 1953, Stratford has been a magnet for gifted theatrical luminaries - many of the greatest Canadian, British and American stage actors have issue no. 24
The Stratford Tourism Alliance
A street performer entertains the crowd at Savour Stratford Perth County Culinary Festival (SSPCCF) August/september 2010 played roles at Stratford. It is not unusual to see well-known celebrities walking Stratford's streets or frequenting local haunts. In the mid-1980s, when I was working at the Church Restaurant, actress Maggie Smith (friend of former Artistic Director Robin Phillips) was a frequent late-night visitor to the Belfry. Often I would run into her on the street or in the line-up at Canada Trust. Twenty-five years later, Avon Theatre house manager Eldon Gammon remembers Justin Bieber, the "little guy with the big voice" playing his guitar and singing contemporary rock out front for the theatre crowd. Stratford fortunately has a tremendous tourism visionary in Eugene Zakreski, who earlier this year added a downloadable guide to Stratford's tourism website with pop sensation Justin Bieber's history and local haunts. Zakreski, Executive Director of the Stratford Tourism Alliance, an early adopter of Culinary Tourism, is forward-thinking and recognizes and supports the uniqueness of Perth County's terroir. Zakreski and his colleagues, Cathy Rehberg, Danielle Brodhagen and Cathy Bieman, have successfully helped to reinforce Stratford and Perth County's position as one of
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