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Craft fair offers a taste of French culture

Kelowna - The Christmas Flair with a French Flair featured French goodies
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Iulia Tarasenco sells maple syrup and other tradition French goodies as Christine Deschenes peaks over her shoulder at the Christmas Fair with a French Flair, Saturday, at the French Cultural Centre downtown. - Credit: Carli Berry/Capital News

Christmas fairs at the Centre Culturel Francais De L’Okanagan are done a little differently.

This year’s Christmas Fair with a French Flair featured a variety of traditional French goodies, like the Quebec meat pie, Tourtière.

Nicole Leblanc, executive assistant for the centre, said the fair has been going for at least 15 years in combination with the First United Church.

The also features crafts and artwork from local artists, Leblanc said.

“We do have some artisans among our members. We welcome everybody and that’s the point of being in Canada, it’s having everybody mixed up together, different culture and different languages getting along.”

Related: Spreading culture in Kelowna’s downtown

The reason we make traditional food is that our members miss them, she said.

For the Tourtière, “it’s not exactly a meat pie. (The difference is) in the spice and how you cook and what meat you use,” she said. In Quebec, the recipe differs depending on the region.

In the Northern region, they use caribou or deer meat, and in the Southern region, they may use bird, Leblanc said. “It really depends on what region you’re from.”

The meat pies at the fair are made of pork.

The craft fair had more than 20 vendors Saturday, from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. and served free hot chocolate.

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