Talk about a “family vacation.”

All across British Columbia, families are coming together to bake bread, grow vegetables, produce cheese and make wine. They’re turning their culinary passions into businesses and, in the process, creating a deliciously authentic experience for visitors.

Drop by a family-run business and you, too, become one of the family. After all, that might be Dad out there in the pumpkin patch while Mom works the till and the kids dole out samples. Stop in, and they’ll be as thrilled to share their stories as the fruits of their labors.

Take the Barmors in Kelowna. They came to Canada from Israel in 2003, after Ofer Barmor had discovered the idyllic Okanagan Valley on a ski trip. He figured the area was just crying out for their expertise in making goat cheese. It is, after all, wine country, and what goes better with wine than a slab of creamy chevre or tangy blue?

He and his wife Ofri bought a small herd of goats and opened Carmelis Goat Cheese Artisan. Just five months later, fires swept through the valley, forcing them (and all their goats) to evacuate. But visit Carmelis today in its rustic wooden building at the end of a scenic road and the only sign of the devastating blaze is the occasional charred tree trunk. Instead, you’re likely to catch a glimpse of goats frolicking in the barn while Ofri serves up samples of soft-ripened “Heavenly” or nutty blue “Goatgonzola.”

Starting their bakery in Nelson wasn’t quite as dramatic an experience for Tobi Jenny and Joan Ralston, but it still marked a new chapter in their lives. The Swiss-born Tobi had worked as a musician all over the world, ending up in the dramatic forested mountains of the Kootenays. But when it was time for a change, he decided to go a completely different route. He became a baker.

The couple opened Uphill Bakery in 2002 and today supply loaves to local shops like Burrell's and the Fisherman's Market. Locals love Tobi's artisanal bread, which he makes by hand, using some organic flours and small batches of custom-milled grains. The couple’s son Nicholas helps with the baking, while Joan handles the business end of things. Stop and say hi to the family as they pedal their bicycle-powered delivery cart through town several times a day – they take turns making deliveries, which is especially helpful when Tobi travels to play his alphorn in international concerts.