You gotta hand it to Eric Pateman. When we first met the guy three years ago, he'd just leased a little hole-in-the-wall shop on Vancouver's Granville Island, and was cramming it with obscure small-batch food items—vinegars, sauces, cheeses, and the like—from craft producers and artisans around British Columbia. Most of these outfits had no distributors, no barcodes—some of the stock came in via FedEx, one company even sent him stock via Greyhound Bus. It was a massive time-suck, and a bit of a gamble.

Then the place took off. Now, the shop--Edible British Columbia, managed by partner Cecilia Leong--is not only a West Coast locavore legend, but the business's gourmet kayaking tours, private chef-guided market tours, and culinary cruises through BC's Gulf Islands attract ravenous foodies from around the word. The packages sell out in a matter of hours. Pateman's a culinary-tourism rock star with no shortage of groupies.

But what of these challenging times? “People are looking for comfort, and food is comforting," he reports. "People may not be willing to travel as far, but they will go for a three-day trip in their own backyard and experience something that they may not have known was there."

In spring ‘09, Pateman will make a new addition to the menu: floatplane day trips into Vancouver Island’s bucolic Cowichan Valley. He'll also take clients behind the scenes with the province’s top chefs and artisans. "People will have an opportunity to really get their hands in the flour," he promises. Sounds like another gamble about to pay off…

Related links:

www.edible-britishcolumbia.com
www.vancouverisland.travel
www.granvilleisland.com