So many choices With appetites stimulated by our walks, we were eager to try some local restaurants. For a city of 12,200 people, Prince Rupert offers a remarkable number of eateries. We expected to find seafood on many menus. What astonished us was the number of ethnic restaurants – Chinese, Italian, Indian, Mediterranean, Middle Eastern and Vietnamese – in addition to steakhouses, British pubs, cafés, bakeries, fast-food outlets and delis. Deciding to combine both seafood and international cuisine, we dined on sushi at a Japanese restaurant. The salmon tasted so fresh that it was likely pulled from the sea shortly before it reached our plates. As for drinks, we were amazed to learn that Prince Rupert even has its own brewery – Wheelhouse Brewing Company. Located in a former blacksmith shop, it brews a variety of handcrafted beers using local ingredients such as Sitka spruce tips. For us, it confirmed only one thing. Whether you travel here by air, road, rail, ferry or cruise ship, Prince Rupert is one surprising city. Foraging for wild foods Nowadays, Ts’msyen people still catch salmon and dry it as their ancestors did for millennia. The harvesting of traditional foods, including berries and seaweed, continues to be passed down through the generations as an important part of their culture. A Walking Trails brochure – downloadable from the Visit Prince Rupert website – describes several trails around the city. As we strolled along the paths that hug the coastline, we spotted plants that were gathered by Indigenous people for food. We sampled the crunchy, salty, pickle-like stems of glasswort plants, feasted on wild red huckleberries and tasted goose tongue. Also called sea plantain, goose tongue grows in intertidal areas and can survive saltwater immersions. Indigenous people harvested the fleshy green leaves in spring to eat raw or cooked. We also ate cow parsnip raw, after peeling the thick stems. The taste and texture are similar to celery. For information about Prince Rupert, visit the Tourism Prince Rupert website: www.visitprincerupert.com and the Destination BC website: www.hellobc.com Barb & Ron Kroll publish the trip-planning website www.KrollTravel.com Tasting wild goose tongue leaves Making salmon sushi CSANews | SUMMER 2023 | 21 Travel
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