Over the weekend, Yellowknife locals were given a chance to satisfy their taste buds with some new flavours at the Northwest Territories Culinary Festival.

Beginning on July 24^th, the city saw a number of different events to take part in the Festival, though the highlight was on Saturday and Sunday, when 50^th Street between 49^th Avenue and Franklin Avenue was closed to regular traffic in order to host the outdoor “Street FEASTival.”

Despite some strong winds, the event saw a healthy crowd filling the street. Not only were there several local food trucks there to offer some lunch, but several stands from local restaurants were also set up to have their chefs share some of their specialty dishes.

The highlight of the FEASTival was a special presentation on Indigenous cooking by Chefs Stephanie Baryluk and Jenni Lessard. The two showed off some unique Northern ingredients, and even offered samples to the audience.

Chef Baryluk comes from the Teetl’it Gwich’in of Fort McPherson, and has hosted several cooking classes, taking great pride in being able to share her heritage through cooking. Chef Lessard is based in the Qu’Appelle Valley in Saskatchewan, on Treaty Four Territory and the Homeland of the Métis. She got her culinary start when she was 14, when she joined a few friends in starting a hamburger stand at their local airport.

Chef Lessard shared a bit more of her cooking experience.

“I started cooking when I was about eight-years-old. I grew up in the boreal forest north of La Ronge Saskatchewan. We didn’t have phone or tv, so cooking was something I did because I loved it, and it was also an activity that I could do to keep myself from being bored.

“I had a restaurant at our little hamburger stand at the age of 14, then a restaurant in a small town, then I was a caterer, and then a chef during COVID, and then I just switched over to culinary consulting.

“Steph and I both have culinary consulting companies, which is kind of a fancy way of saying we get to do a wide variety of projects. We’re not just in one kitchen all the time, we’re travelling all over and sharing our culture and cuisine, and not just indigenous cuisine, but culinary techniques that we’ve picked up along the way.”

Chef Baryluk shared her thoughts on once again being able to share her cooking with the community.

“I think it’s where we are, you know? I’m from the NWT, , so it’s good to be in my home territory. It’s a very diverse population, so it’s not only that we’re able to serve some Indigenous people, but we’re also serving some non-indigenous people, and this is their introduction to Indigenous cuisine. I just enjoy putting food on the table, gathering with all these different people, and just sharing our stories.”

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Later on Saturday evening, the Festival held its Global Bites event, which offered ten different dishes from Yellowknife’s various restaurants, from Chews & Bites YK, Korea House, Sushi Café, Te Adoro Café, and many more.

The “Global Bites” event as part of the NWT Culinary Festival. (Connor Pitre/CKLB)

While the event was initially planned to be held outside, the increasing winds and spectre of dark clouds threatening rain, the event was moved just inside the Taste of the North location. The event was able to continue as normal, and as many as thirty guests were able to share fun stories and delicious foods.