Follow the ongoing adventures of food and travel writer Cinda Chavich as she savours the world. Find her published food, drink and travel stories, and regular blog here at TasteReport.com.

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Charcut chefs Connie DeSousa and John Jackson invited Toronto charcuterie king Grant Van Gameren (of Enoteca Sociale and pictured here with Connie) to join them for CHARPOP - Calgary’s first pop up restaurant experiment. It was three crazy days of dining in local Sidewalk Citizen Baker Aviv Fried’s cramped industrial space - a foodie spectacle to be sure. We loved the blood sausage and foie gras with maple bourbon gastrique, crunchy pig’s ear cracklings tossed across the salad, tender beef cheeks and biscuits, and rich rabbit pot pie (oh ya, and that happy ending of a steamy cinnamon roll). Hot stuff on a cold night in Cowtown!

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According to the trend watchers, Korean food is the next big thing and I had a chance to visit Seoul recently to learn about their unique cuisine (now addicted to the sweet spicy flavour of their distinctive soybean chili paste, gochujang). But while I was in Korea, I also did some sleuthing around on the topic of soju - that Korean rice spirit, that’s quaffed with friends in quantity. And I found a company that’s working to elevate this rather rough-around-the-edges alcohol, creating a real artisan-style soju for a new generation. Read about it here or in this month’s edition of NUVO magazine.

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The sustainably-raised geese and ducks at Au Goût d’Autrefois on Quebec’s Ile d’Orleans go into this cosy farm-based restaurant’s rillettes, succulent magret and foie gras - all created without any gavage (force feeding of the birds). Chef and organic farmer Jacques Legros is an inspiration - a kind of Father Goose who feeds his happy flock of birds whole grains throughout their entire lives, then works with their natural rhythms to fatten them up in the fall. I wrote about his friendly foie gras  in the Globe and Mail or you can read the story and see more photos here.

TASTE, n. & v. : flavor, morsel, relish, sip, savor, enjoy, learn, experience -  the ability to discern the best quality.

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For an authentic First Nations experience - complete with a Hudson’s Bay blanket and fat, furry beaver pelt cushion on the bed - visit the  Hotel Musée Premiere Nations in Wendake, 10 minutes from the heart of Old Quebec. This architecturally-stunning boutique hotel is modelled after a traditional Huron-Wendat longhouse and the decor is modern, minimalist but definitely Native. The authentic menu at upscale La Traite restaurant draws on the Huron traditions of hunting and gathering, with indigenous ingredients in dishes like red deer osso bucco with bog myrtle,  squab glazed in spicy birch syrup and seal rillette.

Read my full story here or in the Globe and Mail.

I’m just back from a trip to Britain where travel deals, from half-price theatre tickets and special menus at London’s Michelin-starred restaurants to bargain hotel packages, make this a great time to visit. I explored fashionable boutique hotels, like the brand new Missoni in Edinburgh, and locovore hideaways in the Highlands, and learned all about Scottish seafood.  And did I mention we had tea with Prince Philip at Buckingham Palace?

Listen to my first report on CBC radio’s Wild Rose, live from Scotland!