Where’s the beef? Calgary’s dining scene is expanding in exciting ways beyond its signature staple

“Anything goes,” replies chef Darren MacLean, as he plates steamed winter melon in front of me. “See? Vegan food that makes you full. It’s not just rabbit food.”

MacLean, a finalist on Netflix’s “The Final Table,” is the mastermind behind Calgary’s award-winning Nupo. Inspired by his pescatarian mother, the fish and plant-only restaurant serves Canada’s first vegan omakase sushi experience. Later, over “mar-tea-nis” (tea infused with vermouth) and two desserts (because, somehow, my pants are still on) we sit at the bar, where MacLean starts to talk shop. I cut him off.

“Just to clarify, I’m not a food writer. This is for the travel section,” I tell him.

“Oh, so: ‘Calgary isn’t just a meat-and-potatoes town,’” he deadpans, neatly summarizing my angle and saving you the trouble of reading the next 700 words.

But MacLean and I — both born and bred Albertans — know the stereotype exists for good reason. From the moment the first herd of breeding cattle started grazing the region’s grasslands in 1873, Alberta beef was destined to become world-renowned for its quality and richness. Today, the province is home to the most beef cattle and the most meat eaters in Canada.

And for decades, Cowtown’s reputation has reinforced this stereotype. On freeways, “I love Alberta beef” bumper stickers are as common as half-tonne trucks. At the Calgary Stampede, tourists can try prairie oysters (bull testicles), including a version topped with whipped cream and blueberry compote. Even MacLean — who went full “method actor vegan” for four months to create Nupo’s vegan omakase menu — extolls the virtues of #AlbertaBeef on his Instagram account.

Personally, I prefer food that doesn’t have a face. This has proved problematic on trips home to the Prairies, where there are fewer vegetarians than anywhere else in the country. In fact, the week before I started writing this, I had lunch with an Albertan cattle rancher in his 60s, who told me I was the first vegetarian he’d ever met.

But restaurants like Nupo, which opened inside the Alt Hotel Calgary East Village in January 2020, are a strong indicator that Calgary’s appetites are evolving. And beyond the increasing number of restaurants offering vegan and vegetarian fare, immersive agri-tourism businesses dedicated to showcasing southern Alberta’s plant-based bounty have also taken seed.

With the rise of environmental vegetarianism — a movement of people opting for plant-based diets to reduce their carbon footprint — farmers here are experimenting with sustainable agriculture in a region traditionally known for beef, canola and wheat production.

That much is clear when I arrive at Cheryl Greisinger’s farm near Millarville, a 20-minute drive southwest from Calgary, on a sub-zero day in January. The rolling hills are free of snow — the result of a recent chinook — but the wind whips around us. It was in these difficult conditions that Greisinger began growing hardneck garlic using regenerative principles (a farming method to rehabilitate and enhance ecosystems) and established Forage & Farm seven years ago.

“There’s a reason people ranch out here,” she says. “But garlic was easy. I got obsessed and found out there are hundreds of species — all different textures, tastes and varieties.” Greisinger shows me a field with views across the hills and towards the snow-capped Rockies. Come summer, this is where she’ll host al fresco dinners, once the new commercial kitchen is complete. It’s a natural extension of Forage & Farm’s wild foraging tours and homesteading classes, including blacksmithing workshops.

Likewise, education is at the heart of Granary Road, an indoor farmers’ market just outside the city. In addition to 50 market stalls, walking trails, mini golf and one of the most epic playgrounds a kid could imagine (including a slide that runs through a giant apple), Granary Road grows fresh produce in its on-site aquaponics facility.

It’s a sustainable agricultural system where waste produced by fish supplies nutrients for plants, which in turn purifies water for the fish. Tours are designed to inspire visitors to reconsider food systems and learn about zero-waste agriculture.

Sustainability is an ethos that’s long gone hand in hand with vegetarianism, and so, too, have prosocial attitudes. Research indicates that vegetarians tend to have more liberal political views. Yes, even in Calgary.

I see this in action at the Allium, an intimate vegetarian restaurant that opened in 2019. While I wait for my dessert to arrive — a chocolate torte made with a healthy dose of aubergine — I talk to co-founder Jared Blustein about how the restaurant operates as a workers’ co-op, one of the only of its kind in Canada.

Everyone is an owner, and everything is shared evenly, he tells me. Even the accountant gets tipped out. “It’s 50 per cent restaurant, 50 per cent political experiment,” he says.

MacLean, too, is re-envisioning what a restaurant can and should look like. During the pandemic, the team at Nupo started their own farm in nearby De Winton to keep staff employed, where they’re now experimenting with no-till farming (a technique that reduces erosion) and producing vegetables not typically grown in Alberta, such as Korean sweet potatoes. Excess produce is sold on the restaurant’s front patio, and plans are underway for farm open days, where visitors can see on-site demonstrations.

“The entrepreneurial spirit of Alberta is in the food,” says MacLean.

Calgary, it seems, isn’t just a meat and potatoes town.

Writer Jessica Wynne Lockhart travelled as a guest of Tourism Calgary and Travel Alberta, which did not review or approve this article.