Cavendish Beach on the north shore of Prince Edward Island is part of the P.E.I. National Park system, featuring a supervised beach, campground and hiking and cycling trails. Photo by Jocelyne Lloyd /The GuardianArticle contentWe recently had the pleasure of joining family and friends for a week at a cottage rental in Prince Edward Island, and it reaffirmed to me there is something unique about being a tourist in your own province.THIS CONTENT IS RESERVED FOR SUBSCRIBERS ONLY.Subscribe now to access this story and more:Unlimited access to the website and appExclusive access to premium content, newsletters and podcastsFull access to the e-Edition app, an electronic replica of the print edition that you can share, download and comment onEnjoy insights and behind-the-scenes analysis from our award-winning journalistsSupport local journalists and the next generation of journalistsSUBSCRIBE TO UNLOCK MORE ARTICLES.Subscribe or sign in to your account to continue your reading experience.Unlimited access to the website and appExclusive access to premium content, newsletters and podcastsFull access to the e-Edition app, an electronic replica of the print edition that you can share, download and comment onEnjoy insights and behind-the-scenes analysis from our award-winning journalistsSupport local journalists and the next generation of journalistsRegister to unlock more articles.Create an account or sign in to continue your reading experience.Access additional stories every monthShare your thoughts and join the conversation in our commenting communityGet email updates from your favourite authorsSign In or Create an AccountorArticle contentSome in our party were visiting from Toronto and a couple had only been here once before. To view their must-do list was eye-opening, as was overhearing the advice given to them by other travellers as we all visited various tourist attractions.Article contentArticle contentArticle contentIce cream every dayArticle contentAs far as I know, you can get ice cream anywhere in Canada, but for whatever reason stopping by ice cream stands on the daily has become a tradition for our out-of-town visitors.Article contentCows, for one, has done a terrific job of marketing itself across the country as the the world’s best ice cream, meaning tourists don’t think they can unlock the “visited P.E.I.” badge without stopping by for some Wowie Cowie. Never mind that the creamery has locations in many of the other Canadian provinces, unless it is consumed in the salty sea air of a P.E.I. summer, it apparently doesn’t count.Article contentI have a similar attitude to Cows as my friend who took us to the Empire State Building when we visited her in Manhattan a number of years ago — I can see the attraction and I’m game to go, but as a local I feel obligated to warn others the price and the length of the queue may not be worth it to them. Those caveats did not bother our group in the slightest. They went there, did that, and, indeed, bought the T-shirts.Article contentArticle contentNot every outing for ice cream ended at Cows, however. There are many, many more dairy bars all across P.E.I., so there is never the risk of a lactose deficit no matter what part of the Island we’re visiting.Article contentArticle contentWorld-class ingredientsArticle contentI’ve also lived in P.E.I. long enough to remember a time before the Wade MacLauchlan government literally cooked up the scheme of “Canada’s Food Island” in 2015. Although a partnership between government, tourism and food producers had already existed, MacLauchlan told reporters it was time to capitalize on the reputation P.E.I. enjoyed as a top-notch culinary exporter and foodie destination.Article contentEither the initiative worked or the market was already hungry for P.E.I. products, but I have seen and heard the phrase “Canada’s Food Island” used unironically countless times in the years since.Article contentWhatever the reason, we have been pleased to see menus worldwide boasting of Island ingredients, including Prince Edward Island mussels celebrated during that trip to Manhattan, and Cavendish Farms fries wordmarked among the delicacies in a London, England pub.
JOCELYNE LLOYD: Experiencing P.E.I. like a tourist
