Fine dining at home during the Olympics

With the Olympics just a week away, thousands of visitors from around the world have already begun to descend upon the lower mainland, all of them looking for a decent place to eat.

February will be a lucrative month for the BC food service industry, with restaurants swarming with visitors without access to their own kitchens, but what are the options for locals reluctant to face the crowds and battle for reservations?

Home cooking seems to be a dwindling activity among Canadians in recent years, with some forgetting the benefits of spending time with family working on a communal activity, and the simple joy in eating something that you’ve created yourself. Many are forgetting recipes that have been passed down through family generations, effectively losing touch with an important and tangible piece of their social history.

Further, cooking your own meals allows you to regulate exactly what goes into your food. Why not try to make popular restaurant meals yourself, with locally sourced and healthier ingredients? Rather than choose from a menu often designed to cut expenses at the cost of quality, home cooking is only limited by your own creativity and willingness to try new things.

In addition to the opportunity to show off our city to the world, perhaps the people of Vancouver may actually benefit from the opportunities presented in not being able to eat out as easily as before. We hope many will rediscover the value of ‘eating in’, and are optimistic this positive change in attitude will stick around long after the Olympics have left town.