Kingston has earned its seat at the table of culinary celebration.
Kingstonlicious is back for the entirety of February and March. For the past five years, Tourism Kingston has been organizing Kingstonlicious, a diverse collection of culinary opportunities within the city, from travel packages, fixed menus with accessible prices for every budget, and engaging unique events.
This year, the culinary program has partnered with over 40 different food hotspots from across Kingston, an over 50 per cent increase from five years ago when the event began, to create fixed menus for participants ranging from under $25 to up to $75.
The ethos of Kingstonlicious is to support local businesses and invite people to interact with culinary talent thriving in Kingston. To bring this vision to life, Tourism Kingston has partnered with an exterior curator, Culinary Tourism Alliance, to support participating restaurants and chefs and connect them with others outside Kingston, to collaborate on a menu for a signature event.
“Kingston’s culinary scene is very diverse and very well reputed. We want to make sure we’re showcasing Kingston and bringing in partners to support their visions—it’s a collaborative effort,” said Ashley Bradshaw, Visit Kingston’s destination development manager, in an interview with The Journal.
Kingstonlicious began in 2020 out of a need to support local businesses as the pandemic took a serious toll on tourism and broader restaurant culture. Bradshaw explained Tourism Kingston wanted to ensure restaurants knew they were supported and able to connect with their clientele. Kingstonlicious takes place from Feb. 1 to March 31 when business is typically slower for the restaurant industry.
These restaurants and eateries participating in Kingstonlicious 2025 include Black Dog Tavern, Meet Cuisine, Daft Brewing, Juniper Cafe, and more.
The second key component of Kingstonlicious are their signature events. These are meals created through networking and collaborations within the culinary sphere.
“[Kingstonlicious] is about connecting Kingstonians, Kingston chefs, and surrounding partners as a collegiality to ensure we’re strengthening the culinary scene in Kingston. By bringing in other partners that have different or larger platforms, it’s amplifying what Kingston has on the culinary scene,” Bradshaw said.
This year’s events are versatile as well as delicious. On Mar. 27, Michelin-starred Eric Robertson of Pearl Morissette, a fine dining restaurant in Jordan Station, will be preparing a live demonstration at the Memorial Centre Farmers Market, using all locally-sourced ingredients.
At The Cannery Kitchen & Social on Mar. 5, there will be a lively East Coast dinner, and tensions rise with a Slider Showdown on Mar. 23 with Kingston’s iconic burger joints, Otter Creek Kitchen and Burger 347 competing for who will win best slider.
The goal is to showcase all Kingston has to offer including the surrounding farmland whose producers and growers feed Kingston’s chefs, Bradshaw said.
“We want our partners and visitors to understand both the agriculture and culinary components of Kingston. You can’t have one without the other and we’re so lucky to live where we are and have these culinary-producer connections that foster collaboration,” Bradshaw added.
To ensure Kingstonlicious is practicing food security as well as celebrating local businesses, Tourism Kingston will donate a portion of funds to Lionhearts, a food reclamation and redistribution centre that allocates donated goods from local farmers and households to people across Kingston.
Kingstonlicious definitely leaves a good taste in participants’ mouths, as the events and programs recognize the rich talent and diversity of Kingston’s culinary sphere while simultaneously representing the local community pride that thrives in Kingston.
Tags
Cuisine, Culinary, Food, Kingstonlicious, restaurant
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