(Photo from 2019) Murray McDonald, the new executive chef of The Bear, The Fish, The Root and The Berry at Spirit Ridge, is bringing a new take on indigenous food to the South Okanagan. His menu centres around the Okanagan legend of the four food chiefs. (Dale Boyd / Osoyoos Times)
Sophie Gray
Local Journalism Initiative Reporter
Local Indigenous restaurant The Bear, The Fish, The Root and The Berry is up for a BC Tourism Industry Conference’s Remarkable Experience Award at this week’s BC Tourism Conference.
The award recognizes organizations or businesses that developed and promoted new tourism experiences or products that “reflect the essence of British Columbia and contribute to a remarkable visitor experience,” according to the BC Tourism Conference website.
The Bear, The Fish, The Root and The Berry is up against two other organizations, Retallack and Northern FanCon, and represents the only indigenous organization in the group.
Read more: Indigenous culture, tradition explored in new restaurant
Spirit Ridge executive director Daniel Bibby believes that the restaurant was nominated because of the unique approach it has taken.
“I think what has made us a contender is a real commitment to being very authentic, very creative, and really paying respect to our position here on the traditional lands of the Osoyoos Indian Band,” said Bibby.
Bibby will be making the trip out to Victoria, B.C. for the awards ceremony on Thursday, and is hopeful of their chances to bring home the win.
“We’re very honoured to be even nominated for this award. I’m pretty excited (about) being recognized. There’s been a lot of team effort that’s gone into creating this new concept and we’re really excited where we can take this in the future,” Bibby said.
