New Owen Sound, Ont., restaurant offers all non-alcoholic drink pairings with its tasting menu [Video]

Guests who dine at a new restaurant in Owen Sound, Ont., are served cedar tea with a house-smoked trout canape before starting the 12-course tasting menu of progressive Indigenous cuisine.

This dining experience doesn’t come with substitutions or alcohol; Naagan offers non-alcoholic drink pairings with each course rather than wine or cocktails.

Chef and owner Zach Keeshig is Ojibway from Chippewas of Nawash Unceded First Nation at Cape Croker reserve. He said his decision to make his restaurant strictly non-alcoholic is out of respect for his culture and his people.

He wants his patrons to “appreciate all the effort and time that we spent curating the food.” 

“We have hunters hunting us geese and we’re foraging ingredients; we’re getting fish straight from Indigenous fishermen,” he said.

“We’re growing these things and putting so much effort into the food, the space and things like that where I didn’t want alcohol to …