And there in a dust storm, atop her shiny red tractor, emerged Jennay Oliver, a fourth generation Paynter farmer. She was rotary tilling fields all morning. “If you arrived later, my zucchini blossoms could have gone with you,” she laughed. The delicate flowers were headed to Old Vines Restaurant at Quails’ Gate, harmoniously dovetailing into my lunch stop.

Old Vines Restaurant sources locally. So local, the farm origin is indicated on the artisan cheeses at this acclaimed winery restaurant that celebrated the induction of Executive Chef Roger Sleiman into the BC Restaurant Hall of Fame earlier this year. A fixture in these parts, Chef Sleiman has curated seasonal bounty for 19 of the restaurant’s 25 years in operation. Joanna Schlosser, marketing director at Quails’ Gate, is celebrating the winery restaurant’s 25th year with a fall online order of vineyard honey, in-house made quince paste, and Fortified Vintage Foche port-soaked cherries—only my favourite Okanagan fruits! “UNESCO or not,” she opines, “we know what we have.”

Next morning we feasted on scrambled eggs atop peanut butter on toast—a besotted morning staple at Sunny’s Modern Diner where the Kelowna culinary spirits came alive! The popular downtown diner with a female-led kitchen is the turf of Chef Rod Butters. “Really, two places lured me—Mission Hill and Quails’ Gate,” the maestro chef who launched the Wickaninnish Inn’s Pointe Restaurant in Tofino, B.C., recalled of the city’s early restaurant days.

When Butters arrived 25 years ago, good dining was scant. Tumbleweed rolled down Bernard Avenue where Sunny’s now resides. Since then, over 400 restaurants are on the city’s playbill, and in summer, Bernard Avenue turns into a pedestrian-friendly food zone called, “Meet Me on Bernard.”

The popular downtown initiative touts bustling patios, booming restaurants, and as Cassandra Wysochanskyj, spokesperson for Meet Me on Bernard, reasons, Kelowna is up for UNESCO status. “We are about community and this UNESCO status will just amplify all the amazing things that are happening,” she said. For a population of nearly 166,000 residents, which insiders say is one of the country’s fastest growing cities, that’s plates galore!

To delve deeper, I joined Andrew Deans, owner and operator of “A Taste of Kelowna Food Tours,” who promised to show me only unique eateries. We met at the historic Laurel Packinghouse, one of Kelowna’s fruit packing remnants, which houses a museum and was the start of our seven-course star-studded eat-and-drink adventure. We riffed with restaurant staff, snacked on samples, and took a lakefront “pit stop” for ice cream to prep for more stops. The hefty players on my culinary playlist: Sprout for the best avocado on toast; burgers and beer at BNA; pizza at Curious Cafe; Mexican tacos at El Taquero; and for a ’70s throwback, let’s get funky at Skinny Duke’s Glorious Emporium. In between dim sum shareables and a refreshing cucumber cocktail (cukes in liquor aren’t my first go-to, but in Boba Fett it works!), served by a Geraldo Rivera stand-in, this panelled rec room-inspired pub is worth a drop in.

One of my memorable meals playing foodie detective took place after my e-bike tour. Hot, hungry and thirsty, we headed to Kettle River Brewing Company in the north end. Home of Chef Brock Bowes (Food Network Canada’s Top Chef, Chopped champion, and People’s Choice Gold Medal Winner of Kelowna Now’s Best Of), the scene at this neighbourhood microbrewery (Kelowna’s first) is best described as “chilled” like the rest of Kelowna.

We bellied up at a booth and met wife and co-owner Courtney Koga. “Any recommendations?” I asked, sharing that I’m no picky eater.

Sandwiched between summer camp kitsch decor with shades of B-movie props, a flight of mini-pints appeared on a handcrafted wood fish head-to-tail paddle, followed by the snacks. Elk carpaccio with pickled rhubarb and a super spicy sausage corn dog wrapped in bacon. And then, Chef Brock arrived. No fuss, no nonsense—the pub fare is simple, yet complex. “I don’t like all the chi-chi that star-rated restaurants represent,” he admitted, sharing the nasturtium flower on my napkin ring was plucked that morning from his happy place, the backyard garden.

For me, caring for the land (tmxʷulaxʷ) and for the people (tmixʷ) is Kelowna’s culinary backbone. UNESCO designation or not, Kelowna is ripe with culinary wonders.