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A great way of getting under the skin of a country is through its food and drink. It’s even easier when that country brings it to you to taste. The German office of the Canadian Tourism Commission (CTC) arranged just such a titillation of the tastebuds for two groups of high-profile German media reps in Hamburg and Munich last month.

The events also allowed CTC-Germany and its partners to pitch story ideas to keep travel momentum going beyond the 2010 Winter Games. It was a heavyweight guest list, including journos from Glamour and Vogue glossies, daily national newspapers Die Zeit and Süddeutsche Zeitung, Games rights-holding broadcaster ARD and radio station NDR. The theme tied in closely with CTC’s Unique Selling Proposition for Canada, namely “award-winning Canadian local cuisine.”

Here’s an amuse-bouche of what landed on the tables: Arctic trout tartare, clam chowder, ginger Albertan beef with cranberries, pumpkin ragout, scallops with caviar and wild salmon. CTC partners onboard were Travel Alberta, Tourism British Columbia, Ontario Tourism, Tourisme Quebec, Nova Scotia Department of Tourism, Culture and Heritage, Tourism New Brunswick, Newfoundland and Labrador Tourism, Prince Edward Island Tourism, Travel Yukon, Travel Manitoba and Tourism Toronto.

CTC-Germany also had an info booth in Berlin this week at rights-holding broadcasters ARD/ZDF’s joint press conference at the Canadian embassy to unveil their 2010 Winter Games coverage. Canadian ambassador Peter M. Boehm delivered opening remarks before TV experts were introduced to the 100-plus attending as well as media and VIPs, including former figure-skating superstar Katarina Witt, double gold-medallist Markus Wasmeier and cross-country skier Peter Schlickenrieder. The latter is one of the 14 international torchbearers chosen by the Vancouver Organizing Committee for the 2010 Olympic and Paralympic Winter Games (VANOC) in collaboration with the CTC.