Westworld Alberta
Issue link: http://westworldmagazine.ama.ab.ca/i/53603
nibbles OF YORE (left) A meaty treat at Calgary's Charcut Roast House. The ancient food trail contin- Chinook Honey Company, just south of Okotoks, carries beeswax candles, honey, soaps, lotions and potions – products one would expect from an apiary – but its latest offer- ing is decidedly more nostalgic. Its offshoot business, Chinook Arch Meadery, is Alberta's fi rst mead pro- ducer, and it joins a handful of food retailers and restaurateurs across the province rediscovering foods and ingredients of yesteryear. Made with fermented honey, mead is one of the oldest known alco- holic drinks, dating back to 7000 BC. Chinook Arch produces 10 varieties of mead, but save your cash for the Melissa's Gold, a medium-sweet blend with a hint of wildfl ower nectar (chinookhoney.com). ues in Calgary at Charcut Roast House, where gastro-groupies and carnivores dine on dishes made according to traditions perfected thousands of years ago in Europe. Artisanal char- cuteries, traditional pancetta and, who'd-a-thunk-it, pig's head morta- della, fi ll the meat-loaded menu. In another nod to the past, Charcut chefs preserve fruit and vegetables in summer and fall and serve them throughout winter. Try the arugula and tuna conserva, featured on Top Chef Canada earlier this year (charcut.com). In Edmonton, chocovores can travel back in time at Sweet Lollapa- looza, where chocolatier Brett Roy con- cocts truffl es and bars from rare white Pure Nacional No. 4 Peruvian cocoa beans. The beans, unseen since 1916 and thought to be extinct, were redis- covered three years ago. Chocolate connoisseurs will appreciate the nutty, fl oral fl avour of these heritage beans (sweetlollapalooza.com). –T.H. MERRY MUNSCH-KINS (above) An illustration from Robert Munsch's The Paperbag Princess, one of the books fea- tured in the upcoming musical, Munchapalooza. "Clang, clang, rattle-bing-bang, gonna make my noise all day!" So sang the boy who wouldn't go to sleep in Robert Munsch's 1984 book Mortimer. Munsch's cacophonous words leap off the page and onto the stage in Munschapalooza, February 19 at Leduc's McLab Centre. Perform- ers in the rock musical sing fi ve of the Canadian author's tales to tunes of well-known songs. The 1987 Munsch bestseller I Have to Go! pairs up with Queen's "Bohemian Rhapsody," while The Paper Bag Princess jives with the folk ballad "My Darling Clementine." Kids won't even realize they're getting a music-history lesson along with their favourite stories. –Catherine Melnyk Charcut Roast House, (book) Viking Canada, (big rig) Shaw Mediacela n The book begins with an account of Debogorski's childhood in Alberta's Peace River Country. He moves to Yellowknife in 1976, and in his twenties and thirties works a series of gritty jobs – bouncer, oil rig worker, coal miner – to pay the bills for his growing family, which tops out at 11 kids. From there, the book delves into Debogorski's two decades of truck driving and his serendipitous path to becoming a TV star. King of the Road will fi nd its most enthusiastic readers among fans of the show and those who grew up in small-town Alberta, but Debogorski's engaging storytelling ensures the book is accessible and compelling to all. –T.H. WESTWORLD >> FEBRUARY 2012 11 one lucky trucker "DRIVING A BIG TRUCK across a frozen lake might seem like a dumb idea, but nobody does it because they enjoy risking their lives. It's pretty much a necessity. If there was no such thing as ice roads, there would be no such thing as economic devel- opment in the Far North," writes Alex Debogorski, star of the History Channel reality show Ice Road Truckers, in his autobiography, King of the Road. Small wonder that this guy is revered as a cham- pion of the north. Between tall tales of bar brawls and brushes with the law, Debogorski, a devout Christian, reveals himself to be a lovable character with a strong work ethic. He also reveals much about the psyche of those who drive big rigs across the temporary roads built on Canada's permafrost, brav- ing cracking ice and solitude, or "brief moments of terror separated by long periods of boredom." A scene from the History Channel reality TV show Ice Road Truckers.