Yahoo Travel Reports on Pemberton, BC

It's Sunday, and the who's who of a Canadian village is at Helmer's Organic Farm. This open house features all of the little town's best, from steaming pots of chili by the boys of Urban Digs Farm to jars of fresh honey, swarming with bees. A tent advertises Jennie Helmer's bid for political office and gives locals the chance to talk to her about their issues. A farm dog runs out to greet shoppers while nearby children in rubber rain boots stomp through muddy puddles. A campfire crackles in the center of it all, heating chilly hands.

This is Pemberton, British Columbia, and it doesn't get much more deliciously small town. Pemberton is about half an hour from Whistler, with Mount Currie standing tall in the background, topped with snow - a beautiful backdrop to the block-long downtown dotted with neighborhood staples like Mount Currie Coffee and Mile One Eating House. Tracks bisect the area, but the train doesn't stop here anymore.

Yet despite its almost painful quaintness, Pemberton packs a hidden punch: Within these local farms, run by families and hardworking, unassuming couples, are the most delicious elements of the best meals of the grandest restaurants in Whistler. It's a living dream come true for cuisine and wine lovers who want to meet the people behind their plates. The name of the game here is quality, a return to the slow food movement, and a time when your dinner had its own dinner outside of your kitchen window a day before you cooked it. It's a place where the best meals are made in small batches in homey kitchens, and the carrots grow too tenderly to pluck from the ground with machines. This type of eating - traditional and local - is starting to trend in top restaurants across the U.S. and Canada. Everyone else is just now catching up to sleepy Pemberton, population 2,369.