Food

Buy Canadian fever will give us more B.C. wine, Ontario ice cream and locally grown winter strawberries-while Indigenous cuisine will have its overdue moment

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1 Fewer People Will Go Out to Eat—and Restaurants Will Suffer

As restaurants roll out all-you-can-eat specials, shift their focus from dinner to brunch and flood inboxes with more coupons than ever, diners might see a bargain bonanza. But this kind of desperate courting strategy signals a less mimosa-worthy truth: restaurants are in trouble. Once-packed hot spots now have empty tables, and Restaurants Canada reported that three in four Canadians are dining out less. Nearly half of full-service restaurants are either losing money or just breaking even, thanks to slowed demand and double-digit spikes in operating costs. The picture is even bleaker among under-30s, who are drinking less and opting for experiential adventures over good, old-fashioned group dinners.

2 We’ll All Scream for (Canadian!) Ice Cream

Chapman’s started developing its butter tart ice cream—the most Canadian flavour yet—right before the trade war. The timing was perfect. The Markdale, Ontario-based creamery leveraged its national pride, made record profits and launched a $200-million expansion plan. With a third plant on the way, Chapman’s will become North America’s largest single-site ice cream producer, adding 200 jobs and three new production lines for more frozen innovation.

3 Canadian Winemakers Will Toast to Tariff Turmoil

Trump’s tariffs have wreaked havoc on a long list of local economies, but when it comes to our wine industry, the glass is half full. With American bottles losing shelf space, domestic wine sales have surged— 58 per cent in Quebec, 78 per cent in Ontario—spurring greater investment, employment and tourism. Next up, provinces and territories are set to ratify an agreement removing interprovincial trade barriers, which means more Canadian bottles on wine lists across the country— and more oenophiles waxing poetic about full-bodied Okanagan reds or crisp Tidal Bays from Nova Scotia.