Canada's insider blog

The root cellar is an old-fashioned Canadian tradition – that place, below ground, where all of our homegrown potatoes, beets and turnips (not to mention the homemade wine and preserves) stay safe and cool during long winters.

And the small town of Elliston, Newfoundland, is the Root Cellar Capital of the world, with 135 historic root cellars in the community, some dating to the 1830s.

This fall, chefs and food lovers will celebrate the harvest in Elliston, with the annual Roots, Rants and Roars food festival. The weekend event, organized by St. John’s chef Todd Perrin, takes place Sept. 30-Oct. 2, 2011 and features several competitors from the inaugural season of reality TV show, Top Chef Canada.

With a culinary competition – Battle Cod – hosted by local chef Jeremy Charles of Raymond’s, a 5-km coastal hike with puffin viewing and culinary “pit stops,” and a gala evening featuring chefs cooking over open fires throughout the outdoor festival grounds, plus traditional music from Shanneyganock, it promises to be a unique and delicious island experience.

The root cellar is a symbol of the Newfoundland subsistence lifestyle – one that still exists in the outports around the island – and these stone-lined structures, set into small hills, are still in use. Come celebrate the gifts of the land and sea, and learn about cellaring the harvest.