I’ve always believed that one of the best ways to understand a culture is to understand what they eat for fourth meal– you know, the meal you eat after dinner and before breakfast. Our walls come down after a few joints or beers. That’s when we revert back to what we love. LA has tacos. New York has pizza. Chicago has the ever-elusive Tamale Guy. Fourth meal is a window into the heartbeat of a city.
So when I found myself taking an eating trip through the Canadian province of Alberta, I figured I couldn’t leave without finding the local fourth meal. Only then could I really get what the place is about.
It was so much easier said than done.
Act I: Despair
I start my culinary journey through Alberta in Calgary, which you know from either the hockey team or the Bon Iver song. For the most part, there isn’t a lot of talk about the food and drink scene here. Now, having spent a few days eating and drinking there, I’m shocked by that.
I’m at Cold Garden Beverage Company when the idea to hunt down fourth meal first comes to me. This brewery has been swimming in awards (especially impressive since they brew on what is essentially a big home-brew setup), so I figure the dudes behind it are the right ones to point me towards Calgarian stoney snacks.
Cold Garden Beverage Company; Wilder Shaw/ High Times
The beer at Cold Garden is excellent. The recommendations for fourth meal, not so much. They mention Without Papers Pizza, but it closes around 10 p.m. most days. A good suggestion, but not quite what I mean. I want to see Calgarians with their