Eat Your Way Across Canada: The Province Badge

To eat your way across Canada, rate a place in each province and territory. The Mosey Explorer badge counts how many of Canada's 13 you have rated in, and its four levels sit at 3, 5, 9 and 13: Wanderer, Wayfarer, Voyager and Globetrotter. The top level means every province and territory in the country.

How do you eat your way across Canada with the province and territory badge?

The province and territory badge is a travel badge, not a food badge. Food badges count different places that carry a tag, such as a cuisine, and climb at 5, 10, 20 and 50. This one counts where you have rated, and only the province or territory matters, so ten ratings in Ontario still count as one.

A place's province or territory comes from its postal code. Canada has ten provinces and three territories, which makes the 13. Hidden ratings do not count, and a level once earned is never lowered. It is a record of what you have tried, never a discount or a perk. The food badges feature page explains the food ladders as well.

What are the levels from Wanderer to Globetrotter?

Wanderer is the first level, at 3. Wayfarer is 5, Voyager is 9 and Globetrotter is 13. The first level is close for most people, because three provinces can be a single long weekend in the right part of the country, and the top level takes real travel to the territories.

The levels exist so a trip leaves a record, not so that a trip becomes a chore. Canada is large and the distances between provinces are real, so a long plan is better built one province at a time, with a list that grows as you go. If you move across the country or travel for work, the count grows as you rate.

How are provinces counted?

How provinces are counted is simple. One rating at a place in a province counts that province once, and a second place in the same province adds nothing. The province is read from the place's own postal code, so a rating counts where the place is, not where you were standing when you wrote it.

Cities and neighbourhoods have their own Explorer ladders, so a weekend in one city can still move a badge. If you want a province counted, rate the dish you remember best while you are still there. It takes a minute and keeps your notes honest.

Which regional dishes can you rate in each province?

A badge only asks for a rating, but a regional dish gives every stop a reason. Here are examples, each from a source the writer opened.

Quebec. Tourtière is a double-crusted meat pie, usually ground or chopped pork, and the Canadian Encyclopedia says it is traditionally served at réveillon, the feast after midnight Mass on Christmas Eve. In Quebec, poutine is the other name on the list, and our poutine guide covers it region by region.

The Maritimes. Acadians in the Maritimes call their meat pie pâté à viande, and poutine râpée is a boiled potato dumpling with pork inside, not the fries-and-gravy dish.

Newfoundland and Labrador. Jiggs' Dinner is a traditional Sunday meal of salt beef or turkey with turnip, cabbage, potato, carrot and pease pudding, often followed by figgy duff. Toutons are pan-fried yeasted dough served with molasses.

Saskatchewan. The saskatoon berry is native to western Canada and has fed people on the prairies for thousands of years, and the berry is ready to harvest from mid to late July.

British Columbia. The Nanaimo bar has a mysterious origin. A researcher traced the first printed recipe to a 1952 hospital auxiliary cookbook in Nanaimo.

Yukon. A sourdough in the Yukon is anyone who has survived a winter there, and a starter carried over the Chilkoot Pass during the Klondike Gold Rush is about 120 years old.

Nunavut. Arctic char is a freshwater fish found across the territory, emblematic of Nunavut, and its best season is summer, from June to October, according to Destination Nunavut.

How do you plan a trip around the badge?

Start with where you already go, and then pick two or three provinces you could reach in one trip. Mix the first and the last: a first-level trip is three provinces, and the territories are the biggest step. Our Trans-Canada road trip guide maps a route from coast to coast.

Pick one regional dish for each stop and ask locals how they order it. Write a short note for each province while the meal is fresh, such as the dish, the day and who you were with. Notes turn a count into a memory, and they are the part friends enjoy reading when you share the list.

How can Mosey help you track the provinces you have eaten in?

Mosey is a place to remember what you ate. Rate the dish, not only the place, because a regional dish and its side can deserve different scores. Add tags such as a cuisine so you can narrow a search later, and keep a list called Provinces I have eaten in with a note for each stop.

Answering a Top 3 question about your favourite places as you travel adds another way to remember a trip. Share the list by link, even with friends who are not on Mosey yet, and follow friends to see where they rate and save. Mosey is free to list, with no hidden fees, so a rating on a trip costs a small business nothing. The Canadian food guides have more regional reading.

What should you remember before you go?

Check hours with a place before you drive out of your way. In the north, check what is open and when before you plan around it.

Download the Mosey app, rate your last meal in another province and start a list called Provinces I have eaten in, so your first level is already on the way.