Sunday 6 April 2014

The Good Food & Drink Festival, Toronto, ON

The Good Food & Drink Festival was happening this weekend at the Direct Energy Centre.

I've never been and it sounded like fun so I checked it out this afternoon.


As I entered, they were giving out bags for any goodies I picked up along the way.  In the bag, was a bottle of Levi Roots Reggae Reggae Jerk/BBQ Sauce ... I'm looking forward to trying it.


Near the entrance, there was a big display of products that Arlene Dickinson had invested in on Dragons' Den.

OMG's were giving out sample bags
I filled out a ballot to win this basket ... fingers crossed!

There were lots of vendors and it wasn't too busy.


I took a walk around and there was a wide range of products.

Donuts from BakeryHaus
My donut was okay
Oysters
Cigars
Max's had a DJ
Linda did a demo on my hand with some great aloe lotion
Food trucks
Food trucks
blu-dot protein tea was tasty
I had a sample (so crisp!) and a nice chat with Tyler of GP8 Sports Water
Ricardo gave me a sample of some ground hemp seeds
Original Kettlecorn's samples were colourful and yummy!
Jewels under the Kilt's nuts tasted good
I got some sample cat food from Oven-Baked Tradition
The kale salad from the Culinary Arts School of Ontario
smelled so fresh
 I had a yummy ice cream sample from the Kawartha Dairy
Udi's glutin free cookies were good
They were also giving out bags of pretzels
Jorge Cuamacas and Laura Spada played Spanish music

There were lots of wine and beer vendors.


I checked out free wine sampling.

I liked the Malivoire Gamay but didn't like the Chardonnay
I liked the Pondview Estate Winery Harmony
(Chardonnay, Gewurztraminer and Riesling) and
the Creekside Estate Winery Laura's Red
(Cab Sauvignon, Merlot, Shiraz and Malbec)
I liked the Cattail Creek Riesling and the Rosehall Run Pinot Noir

Sample tickets were drinks were $1 each and I bought 10.  I picked my sampling glass at the entrance.


Here are the samples I tried ... I liked them all.

Pelee Island Winery Riesling Gewurztraminer
Vikram Vij (soon to be on Dragons' Den) was behind me in line
My fav was Rockway Vineyards' Patio Pink
Strewn Two Vines' Riesling Gewurztraminer
Noteworthy Shenanigan's Pinot Grigio
Coyote Run's Red Paw Pinot Gris

I watched some demonstrations.

Chef Terry Salmond, a competitor on this season's Top Chef Canada
Chef Tim Everett of Whole Foods Market
Christa from Earth's Own gave a talk about almond milk
We were given samples of almond milk ... it was good
We were also given samples of squares made with almond milk
We also got a 2 litres of almond milk to take home

The cheese seminars were popular.  I'm not a fan of cheese so passed.


There was a silent auction with the proceeds going to Sick Kids.


It was a fun festival and I'll definitely go next year.

2 comments:

Masshole Mommy said...

I like things like this and it looks like there was a lot of good stuff.

Teresa said...

Looks like a fun time.