Festivals and feasts: whet your appetite!

JUNE

• Mondial de la bière (beer)
  Pale ale, stout, amber, fruit-flavoured, strong, mild or bitter... each more voluptuous than the next. It’s safe to say that Quebec loves beer. Every year, some 60,000 enthusiasts of hops and malt gathered to prove it and to sample foods matched specifically to different tasty brews.
  

• Festival des fromages (cheese)
  Some forty different cheese makers from all over Quebec! From the Magdalen Islands to the Charlevoix region, from goat cheese to sheep cheese... all of the province’s best cheese makers converge in Warwick for the largest cheese festival in North America. And why not use the occasion to sample other fine regional products, such as cider, wines, and more?
  

• Festival de la truite mouchetée (speckled trout)
  Mmm, trout. Nicely grilled on a wood fire, marinated or smoked... trout in every permutation!
  
  

JULY

• Festival de la gibelotte (fricassee)
  Gibelotte is a fricassee of game in wine, or a vegetable-tomato soup-like dish served over fish -- a traditional meal for the inhabitants of Sorel. Try it, you’ll like it!
  

• 171^e Exposition agricole et alimentaire (farm and food show)
  This is the granddaddy of agricultural exhibitions. Along with entertainment and farm producers in attendance, it’s also a remarkable display of Quebec regional produce and products.

• Festival du boeuf (beef)  - End of July, Saint-Clément
  Where’s the beef? Right here in Saint-Clément! Don’t miss the big Saturday night dinner. On the menu: a gigantic side of beef roasted on a spit. Get your bib ready! Information: 418 963-2258
  
  

AUGUST

• Festival du bleuet (blueberries)
  Bilberry to the Brits, blueberries over here... an ode to the small blue berry and an occasion to mingle with like-minded folks. You must try the dark chocolate with blueberries made by the Trappist monks. It’s sublime.
  
  
• Festival du cochon (pork)
  If you feel like "pigging out," this is the place to do it. This has become a real institution in Sainte-Perpétue. Enjoy the side-splitting competitions where man is not always the winner. Add pork prepared in all fashions and you’ve got a winning recipe!
  

• Week-end des saveurs (regional flavours)  Beginning of August
  Louis S. St Laurent National Historic Site of Canada, Compton
  An encounter between history and flavours. Reputed chefs from the region will titillate your taste buds with their regional specialties. Stock up on good regional products while you’re there.
  

• Fête des vendanges Magog-Orford (wine)
  France reigned for many a moon as the queen of the vineyard. But in the past 20 years, southern Quebec has come to fancy itself a worthy rival of Bourgogne and Bordelais. The grape harvest is celebrated each fall in the Eastern Townships. To your health!
  
  

SEPTEMBER

• The Beer and Flavour Fest
  It’s Labour Day weekend. To end summer vacation on a high note, why not stop over in Chambly? Sample dishes prepared with various beers from the best micro-breweries in Quebec.

• Autumn Delights - Labor Day Weekend, Trois-Rivières 
  Each year, Trois-Rivières' harbour park hosts this culinairy extravaganza, one whole weekend dedicated to regional and provincial delicacies. Information: www.delicesdautomne.qc.ca (french only)

• Festival de la galette de sarrasin (buckwheat pancakes)
  This event celebrated its 25th anniversary in 2003. Now a mature and established festival that pays tribute to the noble buckwheat grain. There will be pancakes and cookies along with an array of baked products, ready-to-eat dishes and even beer.
  
  
• Brome Lake Duckfest
  Peking ducks have been lovingly raised for 90 years now in this charming little Eastern Townships village. Some 40 establishments use duck as the basis for an array of mouth-watering dishes.
  
  

OCTOBER

• Festival de l’Oie Blanche (snow goose)
  This is the penultimate stop in the snow goose’s long migration south - a flight of over 3,000 km. The hardy, energetic snow geese gather each fall in Montmagny - and become the source of inspiration of the region’s top chefs.
  

• Festival de la canneberge (cranberries)
  Did you know that cranberry farmers have to flood their fields for the harvest and collect the berries with enormous nets? The fields turn into a kind of Red Sea - and it’s cranberry fishing time!
  

• La Grande Tablée des Oies (geese) Mid-October, Baie-du-Febvre
  An exceptional gastronomic meal prepared by superb chefs. Reserve your seat soon, because only 200 lucky people will take part in this select feast. Information: 450 783-6696

• Salon Cidre et Saveurs du terroir (cider)
  Discover more regional products and share the passion these artisans have for cider and flavours. This show is organized by the Confrérie des Chevaliers du Cidre du Québec and Collège de Saint-Hilaire. So...Well...Bon Appétit!!!